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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ca1ef4 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #52100 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52100) diff --git a/old/52100-0.txt b/old/52100-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b8aeed7..0000000 --- a/old/52100-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2194 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, -Science, and Art, No. 731, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 731 - December 29, 1877 - -Author: Various - -Editor: William Chambers - Robert Chambers - -Release Date: May 18, 2016 [EBook #52100] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBER'S JOURNAL *** - - - - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - -[Illustration: CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL - -OF - -POPULAR - -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. - -Fourth Series - -CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS. - -NO. 731. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1877. PRICE 1½_d._] - - - - -THE ROMANCE OF ACCIDENT. - - -Many of our most important inventions and discoveries owe their origin -to the most trivial circumstances; from the simplest causes the most -important effects have ensued. The following are a few culled at random -for the amusement of our readers. - -The trial of two robbers before the Court of Assizes of the -Basses-Pyrénées accidentally led to a most interesting archæological -discovery. The accused, Rivas a shoemaker, and Bellier a weaver, by -armed attacks on the highways and frequent burglaries, had spread -terror around the neighbourhood of Sisteron. The evidence against -them was clear; but no traces could be obtained of the plunder, until -one of the men gave a clue to the mystery. Rivas in his youth had -been a shepherd-boy near that place, and knew the legend of the Trou -d'Argent, a cavern on one of the mountains with sides so precipitous -as to be almost inaccessible, and which no one was ever known to have -reached. The Commissary of Police of Sisteron, after extraordinary -labour, succeeded in scaling the mountain, and penetrated to the -mysterious grotto, where he discovered an enormous quantity of plunder -of every description. The way having been once found, the vast cavern -was afterwards explored by _savants_; and their researches brought to -light a number of Roman medals of the third century, flint hatchets, -ornamented pottery, and the remains of ruminants of enormous size. -These interesting discoveries, however, obtained no indulgence for the -accused (inadvertent) pioneers of science, who were sentenced to twenty -years' hard labour. - -The discovery of gold in Nevada was made by some Mormon immigrants in -1850. Adventurers crossed the Sierras and set up their sluice-boxes in -the cañons; but it was gold they were after, and they never suspected -the existence of silver, nor knew it when they saw it. The bluish stuff -which was so abundant and which was silver ore, interfered with their -operations and gave them the greatest annoyance. Two brothers named -Grosch possessed more intelligence than their fellow-workers, and were -the real discoverers of the Comstock lode; but one of them died from -a pickaxe wound in the foot, and the other was frozen to death in the -mountains. Their secret died with them. When at last, in the early part -of 1859, the surface croppings of the lode were found, they were worked -for the gold they contained, and the silver was thrown out as being -worthless. Yet this lode since 1860 has yielded a large proportion -of all the silver produced throughout the world. The silver mines of -Potosi were discovered through the trivial circumstance of an Indian -accidentally pulling up a shrub, to the roots of which were attached -some particles of the precious metal. - -During the Thirty Years' War in Germany, the little village of Coserow -in the island of Usedom, on the Prussian border of the Baltic, was -sacked by the contending armies, the villagers escaping to the hills to -save their lives. Among them was a simple pastor named Schwerdler, and -his pretty daughter Mary. When the danger was over, the villagers found -themselves without houses, food, or money. One day, we are told, Mary -went up the Streckelberg to gather blackberries; but soon afterwards -she ran back joyous and breathless to her father, with two shining -pieces of amber each of very great size. She told her father that near -the shore the wind had blown away the sand from a vein of amber; that -she straightway broke off these pieces with a stick; that there was -an ample store of the precious substance; and that she had covered it -over to conceal her secret. The amber brought money, food, clothing, -and comfort; but those were superstitious times, and a legend goes that -poor Mary was burned for witchcraft. At the village of Stümen, amber -was first accidentally found by a rustic who was fortunate enough to -turn some up with his plough. - -Accidents have prevented as well as caused the working of mines. At -the moment that workmen were about to commence operations on a rich -gold mine in the Japanese province of Tskungo, a violent storm of -thunder and lightning burst over them, and the miners were obliged to -seek shelter elsewhere. These superstitious people, imagining that the -tutelar god and protector of the spot, unwilling to have the bowels of -the earth thus rifled, had raised the storm to make them sensible of -his displeasure, desisted from all further attempts to work the mine. - -A cooper in Carniola having one evening placed a new tub under a -dropping spring, in order to try if it would hold water, when he came -in the morning found it so heavy that he could hardly move it. At -first, the superstitious notions that are apt to possess the minds -of the ignorant made him suspect that his tub was bewitched; but at -last perceiving a shining fluid at the bottom, he went to Laubach, and -shewed it to an apothecary, who immediately dismissed him with a small -gratuity, and bid him bring some more of the same stuff whenever he -could meet with it. This the poor cooper frequently did, being highly -pleased with his good fortune; till at length the affair being made -public, several persons formed themselves into a society in order to -search farther into the quicksilver deposits, thus so unexpectedly -discovered, and which were destined to become the richest of their kind -in Europe. - -Curious discoveries by ploughmen, quarrymen, and others of caves, -coins, urns, and other interesting things, would fill volumes. Many -valuable literary relics have been preserved by curious accidents, -often turning up just in time to save them from crumbling to pieces. -Not only mineral but literary treasures have been brought to light -when excavating mother earth. For instance, in the foundations of -an old house, Luther's _Table Talk_ was discovered 'lying in a -deep obscure hole, wrapped in strong linen cloth, which was waxed -all over with beeswax within and without.' There it had remained -hidden ever since its suppression by Pope Gregory XIII. The poems of -Propertius, a Roman poet, long lurked unsuspected in the darkness of -a wine-cellar, from whence they were at length unearthed by accident, -just in time to preserve them from destruction by rats and mildew. -Not only from beneath our feet but from above our heads may chance -reveal the hiding-places of treasure-trove. The sudden falling in of -a ceiling, for example, of some chambers in Lincoln's Inn revealed -the secret depository of the Thurloe state papers. Other literary -treasures have turned up in an equally curious manner. Milton's essay -on the _Doctrines of Christianity_ was discovered in a bundle of old -despatches: a monk found the only manuscript of Tacitus accidentally -in Westphalia: the letters of Lady Mary Montagu were brought to light -from the recesses of an old trunk: the manuscripts of Dr Dee from the -secret drawer of an old chest: and it is said that one of the cantos -of Dante's great poem was found, after being long mislaid, hidden away -beneath a window-sill. - -It is curious to trace how the origin of some famous work has been -suggested apparently by the merest accident. We need but remind the -reader how Lady Austen's suggestion of 'the sofa' as a subject for -blank verse was the beginning of _The Task_, a poem which grew to -formidable proportions under Cowper's facile pen. Another example of - - What great events from trivial causes spring, - -is furnished by Lockhart's account of the gradual growth of _The Lay -of the Last Minstrel_. The lovely Countess of Dalkeith hears a wild -legend of Border _diablerie_, and sportively asks Scott to make it the -subject of a ballad. The poet's accidental confinement in the midst of -a yeomanry camp gave him leisure to meditate his theme to the sound -of the bugle; suddenly there flashes on him the idea of extending his -simple outline so as to embrace a vivid panorama of that old Border -life of war and tumult. A friend's suggestion led to the arrangement -and framework of the _Lay_ and the conception of the ancient Harper. -Thus step by step grew the poem that first made its author famous. The -manuscript of _Waverley_ lay hidden away in an old cabinet for years -before the public were aware of its existence. In the words of the -Great Unknown: 'I had written the greater part of the first volume and -sketched other passages, when I mislaid the manuscript; and only found -it by the merest accident, as I was rummaging the drawer of an old -cabinet; and I took the fancy of finishing it.' - -Charlotte Brontë's chance discovery of a manuscript volume of verses -in her sister Emily's handwriting led, from a mutual confession of the -_furor poeticus_, to the joint publication of their poems, which though -adding little to their subsequent fame, at least gives us another -instance of how much of what is called chance has often to do with -the carrying out of literary projects. It was the burning of Drury -Lane Theatre that led to the production of _The Rejected Addresses_, -the success of which, says one of the authors, 'decided him to embark -in that literary career, which the favour of the novel-reading world -rendered both pleasant and profitable to him.' Most of us know how -that famous fairy tale _Alice in Wonderland_ came to be written. The -characters in _Oliver Twist_ of Fagin, Sikes, and Nancy were suggested -by some sketches of Cruikshank, who long had a design to shew the -life of a London thief by a series of drawings. Dickens, while paying -Cruikshank a visit, happened to turn over some sketches in a portfolio. -When he came to that one which represents Fagin in the condemned cell, -he studied it for half an hour, and told his friend that he was tempted -to change the whole plot of his story, not to carry Oliver through -adventures in the country, but to take him up into the thieves' den in -London, shew what this life was, and bring Oliver through it without -sin or shame. Cruikshank consented to let Dickens write up to as many -of the drawings as he thought would suit his purpose. So the story as -it now runs resulted in a great measure from that chance inspection of -the artist's portfolio. The remarkable picture of the Jew malefactor -in the condemned cell biting his nails in the torture of remorse, is -associated with a happy accident. The artist had been labouring at the -subject for several days, and thought the task hopeless; when sitting -up in his bed one morning with his hand on his chin and his fingers in -his mouth, the whole attitude expressive of despair, he saw his face in -the cheval glass. 'That's it!' he exclaimed; 'that's the expression I -want.' And he soon finished the picture. - -The sudden prosperity of many a famous painter has resulted from some -fortunate accident. Anthony Watteau, when a nameless struggling artist, -timidly offered a painting to a rich picture-dealer for six francs, -and was on the eve of being scornfully rejected, had not a stranger, -who happened to be in the shop, come forward, and seeing some talent -in the work, spoke encouragingly to the youth, and offered him one -hundred and fifty francs for the picture; nor was this all, for he -became Watteau's patron and instructor.--One day a little shepherd-boy -was seated near the road-side on the way from Vespignano to Florence -drawing upon a polished stone, his only pencil another polished stone -which he held in his tiny fingers. A richly dressed stranger, who had -descended from a conveyance that was following him, chanced to pass, -and looking over the boy's shoulder, saw that he had just sketched with -wonderful truth and correctness a sheep and its twin lambs. Surprised -and pleased, he examined the face of the young artist. Certainly it was -not its beauty that attracted him. The child looked up, but with such -a marvellous light in his dark eyes, that the stranger exclaimed: 'My -child, you must come with me; I will be your master and your father: it -is some good angel that has led me here.' The stranger was Cimabue, the -most celebrated painter of that day; and his pupil and protégé became -the famous painter, sculptor, and architect Giotto, the friend and -admiration of Dante and Petrarch. - -How the fortunes of painters may hinge upon the most trifling -circumstances, has another example in that of Ribera or Spagnoletto, -which was determined by a very simple incident. He went to reside with -his father-in-law, whose house, it so happened, stood in the vast -square one side of which was occupied by the palace of the Spanish -Viceroy. It was the custom in Italy, as formerly amongst the Greeks, -that whenever an artist had completed any great work, he should expose -it in some street or thoroughfare, for the public to pass judgment on -it. In compliance with this usage, Ribera's father-in-law placed in his -balcony the 'Martyrdom of St Bartholomew' as soon as it was finished. -The people flocked in crowds to see it, and testified their admiration -by deafening shouts of applause. These acclamations reached the ears -of the Viceroy, who imagined that a fresh revolt had broken out, and -rushed in complete armour to the spot. There he beheld in the painting -the cause of so much tumult. The Viceroy desired to see the man who had -distinguished himself by so marvellous a production; and his interest -in the painter was not lessened on discovering that he was, like -himself, a Spaniard. He immediately attached Spagnoletto to his person, -gave him an apartment in his palace, and proved a generous patron ever -afterwards. - -Lanfranco, the wealthy and munificent artist, on his way from the -church Il Gesú, happened to observe an oil-painting hanging outside a -picture-broker's shop. Lanfranco stopped his carriage, and desired the -picture to be brought to him. Wiping the thick dust from the canvas, -the delighted broker brought it, with many bows and apologies, to the -great master, who on nearer inspection saw that his first glance had -been correct. The picture was labelled 'Hagar and her Son Ishmael -dying of Thirst,' and the subject was treated in a new and powerful -manner. Lanfranco looked for the name of the painter, and detecting -the word Salvatoriello modestly set in a corner of the picture, he -gave instructions to his pupils to buy up every work of Salvatoriello -they could find in Naples. To this accident Salvator owed the sudden -demand for his pictures, which changed his poverty and depression into -comparative ease and satisfaction. - -More than one famous singer might probably never have been heard -of but for some discriminating patron chancing to hear a beautiful -voice, perhaps exercised in the streets for the pence of the -compassionate.--Some happy stage-hits have resulted from or originated -in accidents. The odd hop skip and jump so effective in the delineation -of Dundreary, says an American interviewer of Mr Sothern, was brought -about in this way. In the words of the actor: 'It was a mere accident. -I have naturally an elastic disposition, and during a rehearsal one -cold morning I was hopping at the back of the stage, when Miss Keene -sarcastically inquired if I was going to introduce that into Dundreary. -The actors and actresses standing around laughed; and taking the cue, -I replied: "Yes, Miss Keene; that's my view of the character." Having -said this, I was bound to stick to it; and as I progressed with the -rehearsal, I found that the whole company, including scene-shifters -and property-men, were roaring with laughter at my infernal nonsense. -When I saw that the public accepted the satire, I toned down what was a -broad caricature to what can be seen at the present day by any one who -has a quick sense of the absurd.' - -An excellent landscape of Salvator Rosa's exhibited at the British -Institution in 1823 came to be painted in a curious way. The painter -happened one day to be amusing himself by tuning an old harpsichord; -some one observed they were surprised he could take so much trouble -with an instrument that was not worth a crown. 'I bet you I make it -worth a thousand before I have done with it!' cried Rosa. The bet -was taken; and Salvator painted on the harpsichord a landscape that -not only sold for a thousand crowns, but was esteemed a first-rate -painting.--Chemistry and pathology are indebted to what has often -seemed the merest chance for many an important discovery. A French -paper says it has been accidentally discovered that in cases of -epileptic fits, a black silk handkerchief thrown over the afflicted -persons will restore them immediately. Advances in science and art and -sudden success in professions have often more to do with the romance of -accident than most people imagine; but as we may have occasion again to -take up the subject, we quit it for the present. - - - - -A DIFFICULT QUESTION. - -THE STORY OF TWO CHRISTMAS EVES. - -IN TWO CHAPTERS. - - -CHAPTER II.--ANSWERED. - -The mistletoe hung from the chandelier, the holly wreaths were on -the walls, the clear fire shed a warm glow through the dimly lighted -room, upon pictures and gilding, upon a great vase filled with crimson -camellias, upon Ralph Loraine's dark handsome face. Christmas eve -again, his first year in England over. How little certainty there is in -this world; when we think we have smoothed our path, and see our way -straight before us, there rises up some roughness, some unevenness -we have left unnoticed, or thought too small to trouble us. So with -Ralph; he had answered the question he asked himself last Christmas eve -by another; he was very happy, but he was thinking now as he leaned -against the mantel-piece whether he could bear to leave the army and -give up the life he had led for so long; the life, at times one of -bold daring, at others of lazy pleasure, which had suited him so well; -that even now, with the wish of his heart fulfilled, it cost him a -struggle to bid farewell to it, and to settle down into a quiet country -gentleman. He had kept his oath to his dead friend, the oath he had -taken in answer to the faintly spoken words, 'I meant to have made her -so happy.' Louise would remain in her old home as its mistress. - -It had been a happy year to Ralph, and had glided away so quickly since -that first night when he had seen her standing in the snowy churchyard, -listening to words which sounded very much like love from another man's -lips. That other had, however, confirmed his opinion. Vere Leveson had -been away with his regiment during all the twelve months; not once had -he met Louise; the field had been clear for Ralph. Yet it was only a -week since he had spoken; he had not dared at first to break through -the barrier of childish affection. She looked upon him as her guardian, -her father's friend, with the same grateful reverence she might have -given to that father had he lived; so he had tried very gently to -awaken deeper feelings, through the sweet early spring-time and the -glowing summer days, till when the leaves were lying in brown showers -upon the sodden earth, she had grown silent, shy, and distant, and -so cold that he thought all hope was gone. He went away in November; -and when he returned, his love unspoken became torture to his upright -nature; he could not bear to live there day by day, to see her so -often, to let her kiss him as a daughter might have done, and all the -while that hidden passion burning in his heart. But after his temporary -absence she had changed again; she was more as she had been, gentle, -playfully loving; and so one day he had spoken. He told her of her -dying father's words; how his great wish had been that she should never -feel the loss he had caused her; how her happiness was his first object -in life; and how that life would be indeed worthless and barren, should -he go back to it alone. Grateful, she answered as he wished, and Ralph -held in his arms as his betrothed wife the child he had promised to -watch over in the silence of the Indian dawn. - -'But you must give me time,' she had said timidly. 'I have never -thought of you but as my guardian, Ralph.' She dropped the name of her -childhood then, as a tacit acknowledgment that those days were over, -and that she would learn to love him henceforth, not with a child's -grateful unquestioning love, but with the tenderness of a wife. - -She was the only one surprised by the event; all the neighbourhood had -known it long before; so had Mrs Loraine and Emma; so had Katharine, -whose wedding-day was now approaching, and whose bridegroom was Sir -Michael Leyland. The drawing-room door opened, and Louise entered into -the uncertain light, wearing the dress he had chosen for her--white -bridal-looking silk, and holly wreaths like those she had worn last -year. She went up to him composedly, with none of a young fiancée's -usual bashfulness. - -'Do you like my dress, Ralph?' she said, looking up with her sweet dark -eyes, as he bent down and touched the rosy lips. - -'I do,' he answered. 'You are always lovely, darling; last year I -thought the same, but then things were different. I did not dare to -hope for such happiness as this.' - -'Are you happy, Ralph?' - -'Happier than I have ever been in my whole life,' he whispered. - -Then the others came in, and they started for the annual ball at Leigh -Park. Vere Leveson had returned a week ago; and as he stood among his -father's guests there was a troubled look on his face which deepened -ever as the white silk folds of the holly-wreathed dress brushed past -him, or the dark eyes watching its wearer met hers. At last he went to -her. - -'Are you engaged for this, Miss Wrayworth?' he said abruptly. - -'No,' she answered. - -'Then you will give it to me?' - -Once more he held her in his arms, once more her hand rested in his, as -they glided slowly round the room. Vere did not speak till the waltz -was ended, and then he led her to the same window where they had stood -a year ago. The same stars were shining down on the same world, only -that night there was no snow-shroud over the dead flowers, and the -moon was half hidden by a great splash of cloud. The same first faint -Christmas bells were sounding in the distance, mingled with the echoes -of a carol sung by boys' clear voices, telling for the angels the old -story they had told so long ago. - -'I wish you a merry Christmas,' Vere said, looking down on her with -a half-scornful smile. 'What mockery there is in that salutation -sometimes. If you were to say it to me, for instance.' - -'Indeed I hope you will have one,' she answered timidly. - -'I must go a long way to find it then,' he muttered. 'But I beg your -pardon, Miss Wrayworth; I must congratulate you. I met--your sister I -was going to say--Miss Loraine I mean, as I was on my way to call upon -you the other day, and she told me of your engagement.' - -'But you did not come,' said Louise. - -'No; I thought you would be occupied. I congratulate you,' he repeated. - -'Thank you,' she answered very low. - -'Major Loraine is completely calculated to make a wife happy, I should -think,' said Vere, in the same cold scornful tone. - -She lifted her head quickly. 'Indeed he is; he is the best, noblest, -most generous man that breathes!' - -'And you love him?' - -'He has been everything to me all my life long, Mr Leveson--father, -brother, friend. Would you not have me do what I can to prove my -gratitude?' - -'By making him a still nearer relation? Certainly. But for my part, -there is one thing I should rather choose my wife to feel for me than -gratitude. How everything changes in this world!' he added abruptly. -'Can it possibly be only one year since I stood at this same window -with a girl by my side who promised to _remember_ me and _trust_ me -till next Christmas? Such a short time! only twelve little months. I -suppose it is true that - - Woman's love is writ in water, - Woman's faith is traced on sand. - -But I never believed it.' - -'I hope you will not find it so,' said the girl softly, as she played -nervously with the shining holly leaves, breaking them, and crushing -the scarlet berries till they fell spoiled upon the floor. 'I must -congratulate _you_.' - -'I beg your pardon! Congratulate me! What upon?' - -'Your--your engagement.' - -'My engagement! And may I ask to whom?' - -'To Miss Leslie.' - -'What!' he exclaimed. 'What do you mean? Alice Leslie! Who can have -told you such a falsehood?' - -'Katharine heard it when she was in London.' - -There was a long, long silence, while each guessed the other's secret. - -'Is it not true?' she said at last. - -'No; on my soul!' he answered. 'I never said a word to that girl all -the world might not have heard. I engaged to _her_! No! O Louise!' he -cried passionately; 'Louise, my darling! I have loved you so long, and -this is the end of it! Did not you know last year that I loved you and -you only, when I asked you to trust me? I have been silent for a year, -to obey my father, and--I have lost you!' - -His voice trembled as he caught her hands, and a great longing -tenderness gleamed in his deep blue eyes. 'Did not you love me, Louise? -Have I been fool enough to delude myself all these months?' - -'I was very--very unhappy when Katharine told me.' The answer was -simply, hopelessly spoken, and there was another silence, broken again -by her voice. 'Vere,' she said, 'Vere--I may call you so just this -once--we have made a terrible mistake; but I must keep my word. Say -good-bye to me, and let me go.' - -'Oh, my darling! my darling!' - -'Hush! Vere, hush!' she said brokenly. 'I owe _him_ a debt nothing can -ever pay; and I know he will keep the promise he made to my father -years ago, to try and make me happy.' - -'God helping me, I will!' It was Ralph Loraine's voice that spoke; -Ralph Loraine's dark fearless eyes that rested upon her; Ralph -Loraine's loyal hand which took her cold one, as she started back from -the man she loved. - -'Don't look frightened, dear,' he said gently. 'Poor child, how you -must have suffered! Louise! do you think I would let you bear one -moment's pain to save myself from a lifetime of misery? Forgive me, -dear; the dream has been very bright, and the awaking is'--he paused -for a moment and steadied his voice--'a little hard; but I shall soon -be used to it. The vow I made to your dead father, I will still keep, -Louise; I am your guardian, nothing more. Forget what has been between -us, child, as soon as you can.' He turned, and held out his hand to -Vere. 'It is a precious charge I give up to you,' he said solemnly; -'you must help me to keep my vow.' He paused, then added tremulously: -'You must make her happy for me.' Then without another word he passed -out through the open window into the wintry moonlit garden, and left -them alone. - -He wandered down the avenue through the open gate among the waiting -carriages on to the silent fields, bearing the sorrow bravely, the -utter wreck of his life's sweetest hopes. 'Which is the harder,' he -thought bitterly as he hurried on, scarcely knowing where he went, 'to -lay down life or love?' In his great unselfishness he never blamed -her who had wrought this trouble; he had vowed to make her happy; he -had done his duty, nothing more, but it was hard to do. It had been a -fearful temptation as he listened, to go away without speaking, and so -keep her his; but he had conquered. Yet it seemed as though he could -not live without her, as though that one happy week had swallowed up -his whole existence, as though he had loved all his life instead of -for one short year; and he looked up piteously to the cloudy heavens, -to the wintry moon, seeking for the comfort that was not to be found, -longing, in his wretchedness, to lie down upon the cold wet grass and -sleep never to wake again. - -'Won't you remember the carols?' - -A shrill voice broke in upon his thoughts; he started, looking down -suddenly, vacantly, as though he did not comprehend. - -Two boys stood there, on their way home across the fields. 'Hush!' said -the elder; 'don't you see it's the Major? Merry Christmas, sir!' - -Ah! how mockingly those words sounded now. The greeting stung him as -the taunt of a fiend; he turned and hurried on. He paused breathlessly -at the stile leading into the next field; all his strength seemed to -have left him as he stood there alone with his grief. Then from the -distance was wafted to him the sound of the boys' voices, and the words -they sung were these: - - All glory be to God on high, - And to the earth be peace; - Good-will henceforth from heaven to men - Begin and never cease! - -Somehow they comforted him as no human sympathy could have done--the -grand old words, the simple tune, the children's voices. Though he did -not know that by what he had done that night, he had fulfilled as far -as might be the charge given in the angels' song. - - - - -A DREAM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. - - -When I was about twelve years of age I was invited by Mrs Hall, my -god-mother, to pay her a visit before going to a boarding-school, where -I was to remain for a few years. My mother had died when I was very -young; and my father thought it better for me to be at a nice school, -where I would be amongst girls of my own age, than in the house with -only his sister and himself. Mrs Hall was very fond of me; she had no -children of her own; and had my father consented, she and Mr Hall would -have taken me to live with them entirely. - -It was a lovely day in June when I arrived at my god-mother's; and -she was delighted to see me. The house was beautifully situated on -high ground, surrounded by grand old trees, and at one side was a -flower-garden. - -One morning god-mother said to me: 'Come upstairs with me, Lilian, and -I will shew you some Indian jewels that my uncle left me lately.' -She opened the drawer of an inlaid sandal-wood cabinet and took out a -small case, in which were a pair of ear-rings, a brooch, and necklet -of most beautiful diamonds. I thought I had never seen anything so -beautiful before. 'My dear Lilian,' said she, 'I intend to give you -these on your sixteenth birthday. I see, however, there is a stone -loose in one of the ear-rings, so I will take it into town to-day and -have it repaired.' She folded it up carefully and put it in her purse; -the case with the other diamonds she put in one of the drawers of her -dressing-glass. - -After lunch, Mr and Mrs Hall took me with them to the town, which was -about four miles distant. The ear-ring was left at the jeweller's, and -as we were to spend the day at a friend's house, we arranged to call -for it on our way back. But you will say what has all this to do with -your dream? Well, wait a little and you will see. - -We spent a pleasant day, called for the ear-ring on our way, and -arrived home about half-past nine o'clock. As I was taking off my -bonnet, god-mother came into the room. 'Lilian,' said she, 'I cannot -find the case of diamonds anywhere. Did I not leave it in the drawer -in my dressing-glass, before I went out? I went to put in the other -ear-ring now, and it was not there. Who can have taken it?' - -'You certainly left it in the dressing-glass drawer,' I said. 'Could -any of the servants have taken it, do you think?' - -'I am sure they would not,' she answered. 'I have had them with me for -years, and never missed anything before.' - -'Are there any strangers about that could have come in through the -window?' - -'No, Lilian; there are no strangers about the place except the -gardener, and he seems a most respectable man. I got a very high -character of him from his last place; in fact we were told he was a -most trustworthy person.' - -Next day there was a wonderful commotion about the missing jewel-case. -The police were sent for, and every place was searched over and over -again, but to no purpose. One thing, however, puzzled us: on the -window-sill was a footmark, and near the dressing-table a little bit of -earth, as if off a shoe or boot; which led us to think that the thief -must have come in through the window. But how did he get up to it? It -was a good height from the ground, and the creeping plants were not in -the least broken, as would have been the case had any one climbed up by -them. A ladder must have been employed; and it was little to the credit -of the police that this fact had not been properly considered. As the -matter stood, it was a mystery, and seemed likely to remain so, and -only one ear-ring was left of the valuable set. - -In a few days I left for school, where I remained for four years. I -spent every vacation between my home and my god-mother's. We often -spoke of the stolen diamonds; but nothing had ever been heard of -them, though a reward of fifty pounds had been offered by Mr Hall for -any information that would lead to the detection of the thief. On my -sixteenth birthday my god-mother gave me a beautiful watch and chain -and the diamond ear-ring, which she had got arranged as a necklet. - -'I am so sorry, Lilian,' said she, 'that I have not the rest of those -diamonds to give you; but if ever they are found, they shall be yours, -my dear.' - -I must now pass over six years, which went by quietly and happily, -nothing very important taking place until the last year, during which -time I had been married. My husband was a barrister. We lived in the -north of England. My mother-in-law Mrs Benson, and Mary, one of her -daughters, lived some miles away from us near the sea-coast. It was a -very lonely place, a long way from the little fishing-town, or rather -village, of Burnley. I confess I often felt very nervous about Mrs -Benson and her daughter living alone (her husband being dead many -years). Except three women-servants in the house, and the coachman -and his family who lived in the lodge, there was no one nearer than -Burnley, four miles off. Besides, it was known that there was a large -quantity of plate in the house; and the little sea-side village was -often the resort of smugglers and other wild and lawless characters. -One day, while thinking of them, I felt so uneasy that I said to my -husband: 'I hope, Henry, there is nothing wrong with your mother; she -has been in my mind all day.' - -'Oh,' said he, 'why should you feel anxious about her to-day? I saw her -last Tuesday; and if she were ill, Mary would be sure to let us know. -It is only one of your "fancies," little wife.' - -Still I did not feel easy, for more than once before my so-called -'fancy' had proved to be a 'reality;' so I determined that in a few -days I would go and see Mrs Benson. All that evening I could not get -her out of my thoughts, and it was a long time before I went to sleep. -I think it must have been about three o'clock in the morning that I -woke in a state of terror. I had dreamed that I saw Mrs Benson standing -in the window of her bedroom, beckoning me to come to her, and pointing -to a female figure who was stealing along under the shade of the trees -in the avenue, for the moon was shining brightly. - -I started up, thinking I heard her calling me. And here is the most -extraordinary part of it all--though I was now quite awake, I heard, -as I thought, a voice saying to me: 'Go, tell Mrs Benson, Martha is -deceiving her; tell her to send her away at once.' - -Three times these words seemed to be repeated in my ear. I can't -describe exactly what the voice was like: it was not loud, but quite -distinct; and I felt as I listened that it was a warning, and that I -_must_ obey it. I woke my husband, and told him my dream and the words -I had heard. He tried to calm my mind, and evidently thought me foolish -to be so frightened by only a stupid dream. I said I would drive over -the first thing after breakfast, and see if anything was wrong with -Mary or her mother. The only thing that puzzled me was that Martha -should be mentioned as deceiving Mrs Benson. She acted as housekeeper -and lady's-maid to her, and was believed to be most trustworthy in -every way. She had been four years with her; and was much respected. -She was a silent reserved kind of person, about thirty-five years of -age. One thing I had often remarked about her was, that when speaking -to any one she never looked straight at them; but I thought it might be -from a kind of shyness more than anything else. - -As soon as breakfast was over I set off, telling my husband I would -very likely not return until next day; and if possible, he was to -come for me. He could drive over early and spend the day; and we would -return home together in the evening, if all was well with his mother. - -When I arrived I found Mrs Benson and Mary looking as well as ever, -and everything seemingly just as usual. Martha was sitting at work in -her little room, which opened off Mrs Benson's dressing-room. I could -not help looking at her more closely than I would have done at another -time, and I thought I saw a look of displeasure cross her face at -seeing me. Mary and her mother were of course delighted to see me, and -asked why Henry did not come too. So I told them I would stay till the -next day, if they would have me, and Henry would come for me then. They -were quite pleased at that arrangement; for it was not very often my -husband could spend a whole day with them. - -As the day passed on and nothing out of the way happened, I began to -think I had frightened myself needlessly, and that my dream or vision -might have been the result of an over-anxious mind. And then Martha, -what about her? Altogether I was perplexed. I did not know what to -think; but I still felt a certain undefined uneasiness. I offered up -a silent prayer to be directed to do right, and determined to wait -patiently and do nothing for a while. I almost hoped I might hear the -voice again, giving me definite instructions how to act. Lunch passed -and dinner also; and the evening being very warm, for it was the middle -of July, we sat at the open window enjoying the cooling breeze that set -in from the sea. - -As they were early people, shortly after ten o'clock we said -'good-night,' and went up to our bedrooms. My room looked on the -avenue, some parts of which were in deep shade, while in other parts -the moonlight shone brightly through breaks in the trees. I did not -feel in the least sleepy; and putting out my candle, I sat by the -window, looking at the lovely view; for I could see the coast quite -plainly, and the distant sea glistened like silver in the moonlight. -I did not think how long I had been sitting there, until I heard the -hall clock strike twelve. Just then I heard, as I thought, a footstep -outside my door, which evidently stopped there, and then in a few -seconds passed on. I did not mind, thinking it might be one of the -servants, who had been up later than usual, and was now going quietly -to bed. I began to undress, not lighting the candle again, as I had -light enough from the moon. As I came towards the window to close it, I -saw, exactly as in my dream, a female figure--evidently keeping in the -shade of the trees--going down the avenue. I determined to follow and -see who it was, for I now felt the warning voice was not sent to me for -nothing, and I seemed to get courage, girl though I was, to fathom the -mystery. I hastily dressed, threw a dark shawl over my head, and going -noiselessly down-stairs, opened the glass door in the drawing-room -window, and left it so that I could come in again. I kept in the shade -of the trees as much as possible, and quickly followed the path I had -seen the woman take. Presently I heard voices; one was a man's, the -other a woman's. But who was she? I came close, and got behind a large -group of thick shrubs. I could now see and hear them quite well; they -were standing in the light; I was in deep shade. Just then the woman -turned her head towards me. It was _Martha_! What did she want there at -that hour? And who was this man? I was puzzled. Where had I seen that -face before? for that I _had_ seen it before, I was certain; but where, -and when, I could not remember. He was speaking in a low voice, and I -did not hear very distinctly what he said, but the last few words were: -'And why not to-night? Delays are always dangerous, especially now, as -they are beginning to suspect me.' - -'Because Mrs Benson's daughter-in-law is here, and she is sleeping in -the room over the plate-closet, and would be sure to hear the least -noise. Wait until to-morrow night; she will be gone then. But indeed -John, I don't like this business at all. I think we'd better give it -up. No luck will come of it, I am sure.' - -'Look here, Martha,' said the man. 'I have a chance of getting safe off -now. I have it all settled, if you will only help me to get this old -woman's plate. With that and a few little trinkets I happened to pick -up a few years ago, you and I may set up in business over in America. -The other fellows will help me. Meet me here to-morrow night, to let me -know that all is safe for us. See here. I have brought you a valuable -present. Keep it until the plate is secure with me; for you must stay -here until all blows over; then make some excuse for leaving, and come -over and join me in New York. If you want money, sell these diamonds in -Liverpool; they are worth no end of money.' - -I could see quite well that he took something out of his pocket and -gave it to her. She held it up to look at it; and there, glistening in -bright moonlight, I saw--my god-mother's diamond ear-ring! the one that -had been stolen over nine years ago with the other jewels from her room. - -Here then at last was the mystery solved, everything made clear, and -all through my dream! Presently the light fell on the man's face again, -and I instantly recognised my god-mother's very respectable gardener. -A decent man he was believed to be, but a thief all the time, and one -who hid his evil deeds under a cloak of religion. And who was this -woman he seemed to have got such power over? Evidently his wife; for -I gathered that from his conversation with her. I waited where I was -until they were both gone--Martha back to the house, and her husband -to the village; then as quietly as I could I returned to the house and -reached my room. Falling on my knees I gave thanks to God for making -me the means of finding out such a wicked plot, and perhaps saving the -lives of more than one under that roof; for it is more than likely that -had those desperate men been disturbed in their midnight plunder, they -would not have hesitated at any deed which would enable them to carry -out their wicked plans. - -I slept little that night, and next morning tried to appear calm and -composed, though I was frightened and really ill. I was longing for my -husband to come, that I might tell him all, and consult what was best -to be done, to prevent robbery and perhaps bloodshed. At last, to my -great relief, I saw him coming. I ran to the gate to meet him, and told -him what I had seen and heard the night before. 'Now,' I said, 'will -you ever laugh at my "fancies" again?' - -'No, my dear little wife,' said he; 'I never will.' - -We then arranged that we should tell his mother and sister everything; -and he was to go to the nearest police station and arrange with the -chief officer to have a number of men ready in the wood near the -house at twelve o'clock that night; that after dinner we were to say -'good-bye' to Mrs Benson, and drive home; but would return and join the -police in the wood, and wait there until we saw Martha leave the house -to meet her husband. We were then to go in and wait until the thieves -came in, when they were to be surrounded and taken prisoners. My -husband wanted me to remain at our own house; but I would not do so, as -I said I would only be imagining all sorts of dreadful things; besides, -I knew his mother and Mary would like to have me with them. - -It all turned out as well as could be. The night was very fine; and -just at twelve o'clock Martha stole down to the place where I had -seen her the night before; then we all, about a dozen policemen and -ourselves, went into the house. The men were stationed out of sight -in different rooms, waiting for the robbers' entrance. Henry came up -to Mrs Benson's room, where all of us women were, including the two -servants. With breathless anxiety we watched and waited. From where I -stood I could see the way they would come. - -It was about two o'clock when I saw Martha coming up the walk and -four men with her. 'Look!' I said; 'there they are.' They went round -to the back door, and we heard them stealing along the passage in the -direction of the plate-closet. Then a sudden rush--a scream from the -wretched Martha--imprecations loud and bitter--a shot!--another scream! - -'May God grant no lives will be lost!' we prayed. - -Poor Mary nearly fainted. At last we heard the officer call Henry to -come down. The four men were well secured and taken to the police -station. Martha was taken there too. She confessed she had let them in -for the purpose of stealing the silver. One of the robbers was slightly -wounded in the arm, but no one else was hurt. Very thankful was I when -I found next day that none was the worse for having gone through such a -terrible scene. - -The house where Martha's husband lodged was searched, and the case of -diamonds and many other valuable articles found there. This immensely -respectable gardener had been a disgrace to his family and his -profession. Left very much to himself through the indulgence of his -employer, he had contracted habits of tippling with low associates at -the neighbouring village, and become so completely demoralised, as at -length to assume the degraded character of a burglar. Now came the -retribution which attends on wrong-doing. The thieves were all tried at -the next assizes, and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. - -It is now many years since all this happened; but I can never forget -what I went through those two dreadful nights; though I remember with -thankfulness, that through my dream and the warning voice I heard, I -was the means of averting a great wrong, and perhaps murder. I do not -impute anything supernatural to my dream. It may have merely been the -result of tension of feelings, supported by some coincidences. At all -events, the results were such as I have described. - - - - -ODD NOTES FROM QUEENSLAND. - - -Queensland, as is pretty generally known, is the latest planted British -colony in Australia, and has already made a surprising degree of -progress. Situated on the coast of the Pacific, to the north of New -South Wales, its more settled parts enjoy a delightful climate, which -is said to resemble that of Madeira. It is usually thought that nowhere -in the world do new and small towns develop so speedily into populous -cities as in the United States; but in this respect Queensland can shew -results nearly as remarkable. In Brisbane, the capital of the colony, -one finds immense enterprise, with all the tokens of civilisation on -the English model. A correspondent favours us with the following notes -suggested by the _Queenslander_, which we presume to be the leading -newspaper in the colony. - -A cursory glance down the advertising columns of the _Queenslander_ -gives one no mean notion of the colony's capacities. One auctioneer -announces for sale three thousand square miles of land, twenty-one -thousand head of cattle, and a hundred and twenty-four thousand sheep. -A dairy herd of six hundred head is in the market here, and there -a stock-owner announces he has seven hundred pure merino rams to -dispose of. Sugar-plantations, salt-works, gold mines, are on offer; -and--incontrovertible proof of the land's capabilities--nurserymen are -ready to supply all comers with seeds or roots 'of all the favourite -flowers known in England,' of every kind of grass and grain and -vegetable familiar to the British farmer and market-gardener; and -keep in stock thoroughly acclimatised apples, pears, plums, cherries, -peaches, apricots, nectarines, quinces, mulberries, walnuts, chestnuts, -cobnuts, grapes, figs, limes, lemons, oranges, dates, guavas, and -mangoes, in every approved variety. - -One correspondent extols the merits of chicory as a profitable thing -to grow; another relates his successful attempts at rice-raising; and -a third waxes eloquent anent the unique garden of Mr Barnes of Mackay, -with its groves and avenues of cocoa-nut trees; its hundreds of fine -date-trees; its grapes, oranges, apples, and fruits of all climes and -seasons, thriving together; its enormous melons and magnificent pines -ripening and rotting around. The owner looks forward to reaping a large -profit from his twelve hundred cocoa-nut trees, many of them now thirty -feet high, although as yet the return for his ten years' labour and -expenditure has been something not worth mentioning. - -Then we have an account of 'the acclimated wonders of the vegetable -kingdom blooming in this present February 1877, in the government -Botanic Gardens of Brisbane;' said gardens being then in the height -of their midsummer glory, and a perfect blaze of colour. 'One of the -most strikingly handsome as well as curious trees in the gardens is the -_Kilgeria pinnata_, from India. Its branches bear a kind of drooping -flexible vine-rope or liana stem, each of which terminates in a large -spike of flowers; while at various parts of the said rope pendants, -hang huge seed-pods, like in shape unto the weights of an extra large -cuckoo-clock.' Several varieties of the mango just now are in fine -bearing, and the wine-palm of the West African coast was never more -juicy and strawberry-like in flavour. Ferns and palms are magnificent, -but after all, the Queenslander finds a native plant excite his -admiration most. 'No description can do justice to the exquisite colour -of the so-called blue water-lily of this colony. It is _not_ blue, nor -white, nor mauve, nor lilac, but has a blended dash of all of them, and -is lovelier than any. A Swiss or French dyer who could reproduce it -faithfully would make his fortune. It is a colour suggestive of summer -afternoons, of lawns, of croquet, of classic villas, swell society, -and five o'clock teas in the garden, with greyhounds, spaniels, pretty -girls, and rosy children grouped about miscellaneous like.' - -Acclimatisation has succeeded too thoroughly in one instance--the -rabbit, as we have had occasion to shew in a previous paper, having -increased and multiplied until the colonists have reason to wish he had -never been induced to settle in the land. One wheat-grower, wroth at -having to sit up o' nights with his farm hands, dogs, bullock-bells, -and tin cans, in order to scare the little pests back to their -burrows, lest, like his neighbours, he should have nothing left to -reap, declares either the rabbit or the farmer must go down; there is -no longer room for both. Sheep-farmers are in a similar predicament; -but their trouble is of native growth; the kangaroo is their _bête -noire_, and they are busy arming against the pouched depredators. -Kangaroo battues are the rage. At one held at Warroo, upwards of three -thousand five hundred of these animals were disposed of in ten days; -making eight thousand of which the run had been cleared in the space -of a month--equivalent to saving pasturage for a like number of sheep. -Another sheep-owner, after shooting down four thousand kangaroos on a -small portion of his run, finds it necessary to call in outside aid, -and lay in tons of cartridges for the use of those who respond to the -appeal. By reports just to hand (Oct. 1877) we find that the process of -kangaroo extermination is still at work. - -There are other nuisances it would be well to see to. A woodman at -Maryborough lately died of a scorpion sting; and we read of a man being -bitten by a black snake while working a short distance from Brisbane. -His mates scarified the wound, bound up the arm, and administered a -large dose of brandy; put the patient into a cart, and made for a -dispensary with all possible speed. Here the wound was scarified again; -and a doctor passing by, being called in, cauterised it, and injected -ammonia. In a few minutes the man's spasmodic struggles ceased, and -he was able to walk to a cab. By the time he reached the hospital all -traces of the venom had disappeared, and he seemed only to suffer -from the effects of the spirits he had imbibed. The ammonia treatment -of snake-bite is not efficacious with the lower animals; at least -in a series of experiments upon dogs, not a single canine sufferer -recovered. Although Queensland is reputed to be a land of rivers -and streams, there are tracts where water is scarce, and those who -recklessly go on the tramp, or 'wallaby,' as this kind of vagabondising -is called, sometimes experience the horrors of thirst, and actually -sink down and die in the wilderness. - -To prove the truth of this, and to shew that examples are not wanting -of travellers who have died of thirst, a correspondent of the -_Queenslander_ tells how, following the tracks of some horses that -had strayed from their beat, he came upon a pair of moleskin trousers -hanging upon a tree, as if put there for a signal of distress. Looking -about, he picked up a torn pocket, containing an illegible cheque and a -match-box; and scattered about on the grass saw a blanket, shirt, hat, -and water-bag. Searching further, he found the skull and bones of a -man who had apparently been dead some two or three weeks; some of the -flesh was still on the bones, and the brains were almost intact. Bags -of flour, tea, and sugar lay near; a proof that the poor fellow had not -died of hunger, but of thirst, the nearest water being twelve miles -from the spot where he died his lonely death. - -Thomas Stevenson, a lad of seventeen, started one December morning -from his brother's station, some fifty miles from Louth, New South -Wales, for the post-office at that place, which he reached safely, -and left again at daybreak on the Saturday. The following Wednesday -his horse arrived home, bearing his rider's coat, scarf, and spurs. -His brother started for the bush with some black trackers, who found -that the missing lad had been wandering on the Debil-Debil Mountains, -but finding it impossible to get his horse down them, had turned back -to get round the base of the mountains, but mistaking the road and -overtaken by darkness, had camped out and hobbled his horse. After a -three days' search the trackers discovered the body of young Stevenson -lying between two logs in a lonely part of the bush. The weather had -been extremely hot, and it was known he had no water-bag with him; so -there was little doubt that he died of thirst. After losing his way -and losing hope, he must have taken off his coat, scarf, and spurs, -fastened them to a saddle, and turned the horse loose. Then placing -the two logs on a track, he had lain down between them with his head -resting on a cross-piece at one end, and so waited Death's releasing -hand. - -If advertising means business, business should be brisk indeed at -Darling Downs, since the editor of the _Darling Downs Gazette_ finds -it necessary to explain the absence of the customary 'leader' in this -wise: 'Owing to a press of advertis---- In fact it is coming to this, -that we shall have to throw up the business if people come hustling -their advertisements in at the rate they are doing. The general -appreciation of the fact that the _Gazette_ is bound to be read by -everybody, is becoming overwhelming. We plead guilty to no leader -this time; but what were we to do? Only just now a bald-headed man -came rushing in---- But stop! let us first explain that we mean no -offence to bald-headed men, and they needn't get up in arms. Goodness -knows, we were bald-headed enough ourselves once upon a time, and -used to be up in arms frequently about that period. Ask our nurse. -However, as we were about to say, a bald-headed man came hustling in -just as we had commenced our leader, and had got as far as, "When the -history of mankind shall have been disinterred from the triturated and -inevaporable sediments of its consummated cosmogony"--and while with -our pen suspended we were working up the continuation in the same gay -and sparkling style, that bald-headed man violently brought us down -from the ethereal heights in which we were soaring, and wanted to know -whether we could spare space for a column or so of advertisements. He -fluttered some dingy papers, each marked five pounds, under our eyes, -and we rather liked it. But we conquered our feelings and remarked: -"Caitiff! our duty to our readers demands a leading article; hang -advertisements! Take your beak from out our heart; take your form -from off our door." The wretch winked, and went to the book-keeper, -and inveigled him into finding space for that advertisement. Since -then, there have been processions of bald and hairy men with insidious -manners and fluttering notes, palming off advertisements on us. In -short--or if the reader objects to that phrase as inappropriate--at -length, we have no leading article, and if the reader could only -witness our tears!' - -With certain parliamentary proceedings fresh in remembrance, we -dare not cast stones at our cousins for not eliminating the rowdy -element from their legislatures. That it should be predominant is not -surprising, since we are assured, that in view of a coming dissolution, -candidates swarm on the ground like frogs in a marsh. Every man who -has figured in the insolvent list for the last three years; every -boot-black whose stock of materials has given out; wild wood-carters -whose only horse and hope is dead; country newspaper reporters down on -their luck; country-town bellmen whose vocation has been supplanted; -seedy men who cry penny papers in the streets: in short, all Bohemia -and its dependencies have taken the field with a view to winning -senatorial honours and the three hundred a year going with them. -Prominent among these candidates stand Tom M'Inerney, who bases his -claims upon the fact that he owns fifteen drays and fourteen children, -and is under the impression that S. I. after a man's name denote him -to be a civil engineer; and Patrick Tyrrell, who objects to 'circular' -education, and who proved himself a real Irishman when asked if he -would tax absentees, by replying: 'To be sure I would, if they didn't -live in the country.' - -However Australian legislators may indulge in libellous personalities, -it is pleasant to note that such things are not received into favour -by the press; the _Queenslander_ notifying to all concerned, that 'any -statement, comment, or criticism of a personal character calculated to -provoke ill-feeling in the community from which it may be penned, will -not only be rigorously excluded, as hitherto, but any correspondent -who may think fit to forward such matter for publication will be -immediately requested to discontinue his connection with this journal.' -To be perfect, this notification only needs the N.B.--English papers -please copy. - - - - -TAKING IT COOLLY. - - -Some of many instances of extraordinary coolness in the midst of -danger and otherwise that have been recorded, are here offered to our -readers, together with some amusing sayings and doings. When gallant -Ponsonby lay grievously wounded on the field of Waterloo, he forgot -his own desperate plight while watching an encounter between a couple -of French lancers and one of his own men, cut off from his troop. As -the Frenchmen came down upon Murphy, he, using his sword as if it were -a shillelagh, knocked their lances alternately aside again and again. -Then suddenly setting spurs to his horse, he galloped off full speed, -his eager foes following in hot pursuit, but not quite neck and neck. -Wheeling round at exactly the right moment, the Irishman, rushing -at the foremost fellow, parried his lance, and struck him down. The -second, pressing on to avenge his comrade, was cut through diagonally -by Murphy's sword, falling to the earth without a cry or a groan; while -the victor, scarcely glancing at his handiwork, trotted off whistling -_The Grinder_. - -Ponsonby's brave cavalry-man knew how to take things coolly, which, -according to Colonel R. P. Anderson, is the special virtue of the -British man-of-war, who, having the utmost reliance in himself and his -commanders, is neither easily over-excited nor readily alarmed. In -support of his assertion, the colonel relates how two tars, strolling -up from the Dil-Kusha Park, where Lord Clyde's army was stationed, -towards the Residency position at Lucknow, directed their steps by -the pickets of horse and foot. Suddenly, a twenty-four-pound shot -struck the road just in front of them. 'I'm blessed, Bill,' said one -of the tars, 'if this here channel is properly buoyed!' and on the -happy-go-lucky pair went towards the Residency, as calmly as if they -had been on Portsmouth Hard. During the same siege, a very young -private of the 102d was on sentry, when an eight-inch shell, fired -from a gun a hundred yards off, burst close to him, making a deal of -noise and throwing up an immense quantity of earth. Colonel Anderson -rushed to the spot. The youthful soldier was standing quietly at his -post, close to where the shell had just exploded. Being asked what had -happened, he replied unconcernedly: 'I think a shell has busted, sir.' - -Towards the close of the fight of Inkermann, Lord Raglan, returning -from taking leave of General Strangways, met a sergeant carrying -water for the wounded. The sergeant drew himself up to salute, when -a round-shot came bounding over the hill, and knocked his forage-cap -out of his hand. The man picked it up, dusted it on his knee, placed -it carefully on his head, and made the salute, not a muscle of his -countenance moving the while. 'A neat thing that, my man?' said Lord -Raglan. 'Yes, my lord,' returned the sergeant, with another salute; -'but a miss is as good as a mile.' The commander was probably not -surprised by such an exhibition of _sang-froid_, being himself good -that way. He was badly hurt at Waterloo; and, says the Prince of -Orange, who was in the hospital, 'I was not conscious of the presence -of Lord Fitzroy Somerset until I heard him call out in his ordinary -tone: "Hollo! Don't carry that arm away till I have taken off my ring!" -Neither wound nor operation had extorted a groan from his lips.' - -The Indian prides himself upon taking good or ill in the quietest -of ways; and from a tale told in Mr Marshall's _Canadian Dominion_, -his civilised half-brother would seem to be equally unemotional. -Thanks mainly to a certain Métis or half-breed in the service of the -Hudson Bay Company, a Sioux warrior was found guilty of stealing a -horse, and condemned to pay the animal's value by instalments, at one -of the Company's forts. On paying the last instalment, he received -his quittance from the man who had brought him to justice, and left -the office. A few moments later the Sioux returned, advanced on his -noiseless moccasins within a pace of the writing-table, and levelled -his musket full at the half-breed's head. Just as the trigger was -pulled, the Métis raised the hand with which he was writing and touched -lightly the muzzle of the gun; the shot passed over his head, but his -hair was singed off in a broad mass. The smoke clearing away, the -Indian was amazed to see his enemy still lived. The other looked him -full in the eyes for an instant, and quietly resumed his writing. The -Indian silently departed unpursued; those who would have given chase -being stopped by the half-breed with: 'Go back to your dinner, and -leave the affair to me.' - -When evening came, a few whites, curious to see how the matter would -end, accompanied the Métis to the Sioux encampment. At a certain -distance he bade them wait, and advanced alone to the Indian tents. -Before one of these sat crouched the baffled savage, singing his own -death-hymn to the tom-tom. He complained that he must now say good-bye -to wife and child, to the sunlight, to his gun and the chase. He told -his friends in the spirit-land to expect him that night, when he would -bring them all the news of their tribe. He swung his body backwards and -forwards as he chanted his strange song, but never once looked up--not -even when his foe spurned him with his foot. He only sang on, and -awaited his fate. Then the half-breed bent his head and spat down on -the crouching Sioux, and turned leisurely away--a crueller revenge than -if he had shot him dead. - -It is not given to every one to play the philosopher, and accept -fortune's buffets and favours with equal placidity. Horatios are -scarce. But there are plenty of people capable of behaving like -Spartans where the trouble does not touch their individuality. 'How can -I get out of this?' asked an Englishman, up to his armpits in a Scotch -bog, of a passer-by. 'I dinna think ye _can_ get oot of it,' was the -response of the Highlander as he went on his way. - -Mistress of herself was the spouse of the old gentleman, who contrived -to tumble off the ferryboat into the Mississippi, and was encouraged -to struggle for dear life by his better-half shouting: 'There, Samuel; -didn't I tell you so? Now then, work your legs, flap your arms, hold -your breath, and repeat the Lord's Prayer--for its mighty onsartin, -Samuel, whether you land in Vicksburg or eternity!' - -Thoroughly oblivious of court manners was the red-cloaked old Kentish -dame who found her way into the tent occupied by Queen Charlotte, at a -Volunteer review held shortly after her coming to England, and after -staring at the royal lady with her arms akimbo, observed: 'Well, she's -not so ugly as they told me she was!'--a compliment the astonished -queen gratefully accepted, saying: 'Well, my good woman, I am very glad -of dat.' Probably Her Majesty forgave her critic's rudeness as the -outcome of rustic ignorance and simplicity. - -There is no cooler man than your simple fellow. While General Thomas -was inspecting the fortifications of Chattanooga with General Garfield, -they heard some one shout: 'Hello, mister! You! I want to speak to -you!' General Thomas, turning, found he was the 'mister' so politely -hailed by an East Tennessean soldier. - -'Well, my man,' said he, 'what do you want with me?' - -'I want to get a furlough, mister, that's what I want,' was the reply. - -'Why do you want a furlough, my man?' inquired the general. - -'Wall, I want to go home and see my wife.' - -'How long is it since you saw her?' - -'Ever since I enlisted; nigh on to three months.' - -'Three months!' exclaimed the commander. 'Why, my good fellow, I have -not seen my wife for three years!' - -The Tennessean looked incredulous, and drawled out: 'Wall, you see, me -and _my_ wife ain't that sort!' - -The Postmaster-general of the United States once received an odd -official communication; the Raeborn postmaster, new to his duties, -writing to his superior officer: 'Seeing by the regulations that I am -required to send you a letter of advice, I must plead in excuse that I -have been postmaster but a short time; but I will say, if your office -pays no better than mine, I advise you to give it up.' To this day, -that Postmaster-general has not decided whether his subordinate was an -ignoramus or was quietly poking fun at him. - -Spite of the old axiom about self-praise, many are of opinion that -the world is apt to take a man at his own valuation. If that be true, -there is a church dignitary in embryo somewhere in the young deacon, -whose examining bishop felt it requisite to send for the clergyman -recommending him for ordination, in order to tell him to keep that -young man in check; adding by way of explanation: 'I had the greatest -difficulty, sir, to prevent him examining me!' This not to be abashed -candidate for clerical honours promises to be as worthy of the cloth as -the American minister who treated his village congregation to one of Mr -Beecher's sermons, unaware that the popular Brooklyn preacher made one -of his hearers. Accosting him after service, Mr Beecher said: 'That was -a fair discourse; how long did it take you to write it?' - -'Oh, I tossed it off one evening,' was the reply. - -'Indeed!' said Mr Beecher. 'Well, it took me much longer than that to -think out the framework of that sermon.' - -'Are you Henry Ward Beecher?' asked the sermon-stealer. - -'I am,' said that gentleman. - -'Well, then,' said the other, not in the least disconcerted, 'all I -have to say is, that I ain't ashamed to preach one of your sermons -anywhere.' - -We do not know if Colman invented the phrase, 'As cool as a cucumber;' -but he makes the Irishman in _The Heir-at-Law_ say: 'These two must -be a rich man that won't lend, and a borrower; for one is trotting -about in great distress, and t' other stands cool as a cucumber.' Of -the two, the latter was more likely to have been intending a raid on -another man's purse, for the men whose 'very trade is borrowing' are -usually, we might say necessarily, the coolest of the cool; like Bubb -Dodington's impecunious acquaintance, who, rushing across Bond Street, -greeted Dodington with: 'I'm delighted to see you, for I am wonderfully -in want of a guinea.' - -Taking out his purse, Bubb shewed that it held but half a guinea. - -'A thousand thanks!' cried his tormentor, deftly seizing the coin; -'that will do very well for the present;' and then changed the -conversation. But as he turned to take leave, he inquired: 'By-the-by, -when will you pay me that half-guinea?' - -'Pay you? What do you mean?' exclaimed Dodington. - -'Mean? Why, I intended to borrow a guinea of you. I have only got half; -but I'm not in a hurry for t' other. Name your own time, only pray keep -it!' saying which, he disappeared round the corner. - -'John PhÅ“nix' the American humorist being one night at a theatre, -fancied he saw a friend some three seats in front of him. Turning to -his next neighbour he said: 'Would you be kind enough to touch that -gentleman with your stick?' 'Certainly,' was the reply, and the thing -was done; but when the individual thus assaulted turned round, PhÅ“nix -saw he was not the man he took him for, and became at once absorbed -in the play, leaving his friend with the stick to settle matters with -the gentleman in front, which, as he had no excuse handy, was not done -without considerable trouble. When the hubbub was over, the victim -said: 'Didn't you tell me to tap that man with my stick?' 'Yes.' 'And -what did you want?' 'Oh,' said PhÅ“nix, with imperturbable gravity, 'I -wanted to see whether you _would_ tap him or not!' - -'Jack Holmes,' a man-about-town, living no one knew how, was once under -cross-examination by a certain sergeant-at-law, who knew his man too -well. 'Now, sir,' said the learned gentleman, 'tell the jury how you -live?' - -'Well,' said Holmes, 'a chop or a steak, and on Sunday perhaps a little -bit of fish; I am a very plain-living man.' - -'You know what I mean, sir,' thundered the questioner. 'What do you do -for a living?' - -'The same as you, sergeant,' said the witness, tapping his forehead -suggestively; 'and when that fails, I do'--going through the pantomime -of writing across his hand--'a little bit of stuff--the same as you -again.' - -'My lud, I shall not ask this obtuse witness any more questions,' said -the angry counsel. - -'Brother,' said Baron Martin, 'I think you had better not.' - -Here is a hint for our old friend the clown in the pantomime. At the -burning of a provision store, the crowd helped themselves freely. One -man grasped a huge cheese as his share of the salvage; rising up with -it he found himself face to face with a policeman, and with admirable -presence of mind put the plunder into the officer's arms, saying: 'You -had better take care of that, policeman, or some one will be walking -off with it.' - -Equally ready to relinquish his loot when there was no help for it was -a Chicago negro, caught by a poultry fancier in the act of carrying off -some of his live stock, and challenged with: 'What are you doing with -my chickens?' 'I wuz gwine fer ter fetch 'em back, boss,' explained he. -'Dere's a nigger roun' here what's bin disputin along er me 'bout dem -chickens. I said dey wuz Coachin Chyniz; an he said dey wuz Alabarmar -pullets; an I wuz jes takin 'em roun' fer ter stablish my nollidge. Dey -don't lay no aigs, does dey, boss? Ef dey does, I'm mighty shamed of -hustlin 'em roun'. Aigs is scase.' - -Impudently cool as the darkey was, he must yield the palm for -effrontery to the Erie Railway guard, whose interview with Manager Fisk -is thus related in an American paper. - -'You are a conductor on the Erie, I believe?' - -'Yes, sir.' - -'How long have you been on the road?' - -'Fifteen years.' - -'Worth some property, I learn?' - -'Some.' - -'Have a very fine house in Oswego? Cost you some thirty, forty, or -fifty thousand dollars?' - -'Yes, sir.' - -'Some little money invested in bonds, I am told?' - -'Yes, sir.' - -'Own a farm near where you reside?' - -'Yes, sir.' - -'Had nothing when you commenced as conductor on our road?' - -'Nothing to speak of.' - -'Made the property since?' - -'Yes, sir.' - -'Been at work for no other parties?' - -'No; but I have been saving money, and invested it from time to time to -good advantage.' - -'Well, sir, what will you give to settle? Of course you cannot pretend -to say you have acquired this property from what you have saved from -your salary? You will not deny that you have pocketed a great deal -of money belonging to the railway--at least fifty or sixty thousand -dollars? Now, sir, what will you give to settle, and not be disgraced, -as you certainly will be if a trial is brought, and you are compelled -to give up the property you profess to own, but which in reality -belongs to the Company?' - -'Well, Mr Manager, I had not thought of the matter. For several years -I have been running my train to the best of my ability. Never looked -at the matter in this light before. Never thought I was doing anything -wrong. I have done nothing more than other conductors; tried to earn -my salary and get it, and think I've succeeded. I don't know that I -owe the Company anything. If you think I do, why, there's a little -difference of opinion, and I don't want any trouble over it. I have a -nice family, nice father and mother; relatives all of good standing; -they would feel bad to have me arrested and charged with dishonesty. It -would kill my wife. She has every confidence in me, and the idea that I -would take a penny that did not belong to me would break her heart. I -don't care anything for the matter myself; but on account of my family -and relatives, if you won't say anything more about it, I'll give you -say--a dollar!' - - - - -THE MONTH: - -SCIENCE AND ARTS. - - -Mr Charles Barry, President of the Royal Institute of British -Architects, in his opening address, mentioned that with a view to -facilitate the studies of young men, the library of the Institute is -open from ten in the morning till nine at night, to members of the -Architectural Association, to the architectural classes of the Royal -Academy, of University College, and King's College. A fee of five -shillings a year and a proper recommendation are the conditions on -which this valuable privilege may be obtained; and it is to be hoped -that earnest-minded students--the architects of the future--will hasten -to avail themselves of this generously offered store of knowledge. - -The Council of the Institute have given notice of lectures which are -to be delivered at University College, London, during the present -session, comprising Ancient Architecture as a Fine Art; on Construction -and Materials; on Roofing, Masonry, Quarries, Arches, and Groining. -At King's College also there will be lectures on the Mechanics of -Construction; on Constructive Design and Practice, besides classes -for the study of Architectural Drawing, Descriptive Geometry, and -Surveying and Levelling. Young men who wish to study architecture and -allied subjects have in the courses thus provided for, a favourable -opportunity. Among the papers announced for reading at the meetings of -the Institute are: On the Architecture of Norway; On the Prevention of -Corrosion in Iron; and Syria, the Cradle of Gothic Architecture; which -may be expected to present especial points of interest. - -The Council of the Royal Agricultural Society have published a -statement of members' privileges which is worth attention. On payment -of a moderate fee the advice of a competent veterinary inspector can be -had in cases of disease among the live-stock; post-mortem examinations -can be made, and the animals may be sent to the Brown Institution, -Wandsworth Road, London, where the Professor-Superintendent undertakes -'to carry out such investigations relating to the nature, treatment, -and prevention of diseases of cattle, sheep, and pigs, as may be -deemed expedient by the Council of the Society.' Reports on the cases -are drawn up quarterly, or specially as may be required. Analyses of -guano and other fertilisers, of soils, of water, of vegetable products, -may be had; also reports on seeds, with determination of the quantity -of weeds mingled among them; on vegetable parasites; on diseases of -farm-crops. And besides all this, any member whose lands are infested -by noxious intruders may have a 'determination of the species of -any insect, worm, or other animal, which, in any stage of its life, -injuriously affects the farm-crops, with a report on its habits, and -suggestions as to its extermination.' - -Experiments on the fattening of animals by Messrs Lawes and Gilbert -help to settle the much-debated question as to whether fat is produced -exclusively from nitrogenous food or not. Their conclusion is, that -excess of nitrogen contributes to growth but not to fatness. 'There -is, of course,' they say, 'a point below which the proportion of -nitrogenous substance in the food should not be reduced; but if this -be much exceeded, the proportion of the increase, and especially of -the fat-increase, to the nitrogenous substance consumed, rapidly -decreases; and it may be stated generally, that taking our current -fattening food-stuffs as they are, it is their supply of digestible -non-nitrogenous, rather than of nitrogenous constituents which guides -the amount, both of the food consumed and of the increase produced, by -the fattening animal.' - -Since the outbreak of discussion on spontaneous generation and the germ -theory, many readers have become familiar with the term Bacteria, by -which certain minute organisms are described. The question involved -may be studied from different points of view, as appears from a -communication addressed to the Royal Society by Dr Downes and Mr Blunt, -a chemist, on the Effect of Light upon Bacteria and other Organisms. -Properly prepared solutions were inclosed in glass tubes; some of -the tubes were placed in sunlight, others were covered with paper -or some material that excluded light. The dark tubes became turbid; -the light tubes remained clear. The experiments modified in various -ways were continued from April to October; and the conclusions that -the experimentalists came to were that--Light is inimical to the -development of Bacteria and the microscopic fungi associated with -putrefaction and decay, its action on the latter being apparently less -rapid than upon the former--That the preservative quality of light -is most powerful in the direct solar ray, but can be demonstrated -to exist in ordinary diffused daylight--and That this preservative -quality appears to be associated with the actinic rays of the spectrum. -'It appears to us,' say the two gentlemen, 'that the organisms which -have been the subject of our research may be regarded simply as -isolated cells, or minute protoplasmic masses specially fitted by -their transparency and tenuity for the demonstration of physical -influences. May we not expect that laws similar to those which here -manifest themselves may be in operation throughout the vegetable, and -perhaps also the animal kingdom wherever light has direct access to -protoplasm? On the one hand, we have chlorophyll (colouring substance -of leaves, &c.) owing its very existence to light, and whose functions -are deoxidising; on the other, the white protoplasm or germinal matter -oxidising in its relations, and to which, in some of its forms at -least, the solar rays are not only non-essential, but even devitalising -and injurious. - -'This suggestion,' continued the gentlemen, 'we advance provisionally -and with diffidence; nor do we wish to imply that the relations of -light to protoplasmic matter are by any means so simple as might be -inferred from the above broad statement.' - -A paper by Dr Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., read before the same Society, -contains, amid much that is controversial about _Bacteria_, germs, -organised particles, development and so forth, a few passages which -all intelligent readers will be able to understand. On the question -of disease-germs, the learned doctor remarks: 'In order that any -particle may be rightly termed a disease-germ, two things must be -proved concerning it: first, that it is a living organism; secondly, -that if it finds its way into the body of a healthy human being or of -an animal, it will produce the disease of which it is the germ. Now -there is only one disease affecting the higher animals in respect of -which anything of this kind has been proved, and that is splenic fever -of cattle. In other words, there is but one case in which the existence -of a disease-germ has been established. Comparing such a germ with the -germinal particles we have been discussing, we see that there is but -little analogy between them, for, first, the latter are not known to be -organised; secondly, they have no power of producing disease, for it -has been found by experiment that ordinary Bacteria may be introduced -into the circulating blood of healthy animals in considerable -quantities without producing any disturbance of health. So long as we -ourselves are healthy, we have no reason to apprehend any danger from -the morbific action of atmospheric dust, except in so far as it can -be shewn to have derived infectiveness from some particular source of -miasma or contagium.' - -In a communication to the _American Journal_, Professor Kirkwood -discusses the question--Does the motion of the inner satellite of -Mars disprove the nebular hypothesis? This satellite he remarks is -within three thousand four hundred miles of the planet's surface, and -completes three orbital revolutions in less than a Martial day. How is -this remarkable fact to be reconciled with the cosmogony of Laplace? -The Professor then remarks that there is some similarity between the -movements of the satellites and those of the rings of Saturn. The -rings are composed of clouds of exceedingly minute planetoids, and -while the outer ring revolves in a period somewhat greater than that -of Saturn itself, 'the inner visible edge of the dusky ring completes -a revolution in about eight hours. These rings,' in the words of -Professor Tait, 'like everything cosmical, must be gradually decaying, -because in the course of their motion round the planet there must be -continual impacts among the separate portions of the mass; and of -two which impinge, one may be accelerated, but at the expense of the -other. The other falls out of the race, as it were, and is gradually -drawn in towards the planet. The consequence is that, possibly not so -much on account of the improvement of telescopes of late years, but -perhaps simply in consequence of this gradual closing in of the whole -system, a new ring of Saturn has been observed inside the two old -ones, called from its appearance the crape ring, which was narrow when -first observed, but is gradually becoming broader. That crape ring is -formed of the laggards which have been thrown out of the race, and are -gradually falling in towards Saturn's surface.' It is then suggested -that, by a process similar to that here described, the phenomena of the -Martial system may have been produced, and the argument concludes thus: -'Unless some such explanation as this can be given, the short period of -the inner satellite will doubtless be regarded as a conclusive argument -against the nebular hypothesis.' - -In a paper read at a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society, Mr -Brett argues against the hypothesis that Mars is in a condition similar -to that of the earth. He grounds his conclusion on the fact that in -all his observations of Mars he has seen no clouds in the atmosphere -thereof. That atmosphere is very dense, of great bulk, and is probably -of a temperature so high that any aqueous vapour contained therein is -prevented from condensation. Mr Brett implies that the glowing red -colour of the middle of the disk is glowing red heat; and he remarks, -in terrestrial experience there is always an intermediate phenomenon -between vapour and snow, namely opaque cloud; and the absence of this -condition seems fatal to the hypothesis that the white polar patch, as -hitherto supposed, consists of snow. According to Mr Brett this patch -is not only not snow; constitutes no part of the solid mass of the -planet; but is nothing more than a patch of cloud, 'the only real cloud -existing in Mars.' - -From particulars published in the _Quarterly Journal_ of the Geological -Society, it appears that metallic copper and copper ore have been -discovered along a tract of country in Nova Scotia, that the specimens -when analysed at Swansea yielded satisfactory results, and that 'Nova -Scotia may soon appear on the list of copper-producing countries, -it being confidently expected that during the approaching summer -fresh localities will be proved to contain copper-bearing veins.' -And shifting the scene, we learn from the same _Journal_ that in the -South African Diamond Fields, two claims in Kimberley Mine, comprising -eighteen hundred square feet, have yielded twenty-eight thousand carats -of diamond; that at Lyndenburg, in the Transvaal country, most of the -alluvial gold is supplied by Pilgrim's Rest Creek, the gold being -coarse and nuggety, in well-rounded lumps, some of which, ten pounds in -weight, are worth from seventy-six to eighty shillings an ounce; and -that near the Oliphant River cobalt ore is found, of which a hundred -tons have been sent to England. The same locality yields beryls, and is -believed to be rich in other minerals. - -Compressed air on being released from pressure can be cooled down to a -very low temperature by throwing into it a jet of cold water. Advantage -has been taken of this fact in contriving a new refrigerator or -freezing chamber; and we are informed that at a trial which took place -with a view to commercial purposes, 'in half an hour after commencing -to work the machine, the thermometer within the freezing chamber stood -at twenty degrees below zero; the interior of the chamber was covered -with hoar-frost half an inch thick, bottles of water were frozen solid, -and the general temperature of the room in which the freezing chamber -stands was reduced to thirty degrees Fahrenheit.' It is clear that -by this invention a very cheap way of producing ice and maintaining -coolness has become available; and that it should have been adopted by -a Company for use on board ship to keep meat fresh during the voyage -from Canada is what might be expected. Bearing in mind that in April -of the present year the United States sent to England more than eight -million pounds of meat, the importance of the new cooling method will -be appreciated. Moreover, it may be applied to many other purposes -which require a low temperature. - -Another step has been taken towards diminishing the risk of railway -travelling. Experience has shewn that the danger most to be dreaded is -collision; and that collision is brought about by defective signals. -The interlocking system of signals is good, and the block-system is -good; but they have failed in critical moments. The manager of the -Railway Signal Works at Kilburn has invented a method which combines -the two systems, and, as we are informed, has thereby 'dislodged the -last atom of human fallibility' from railway signalling. Time will -prove. - -The block-system has been adopted, with endeavours to improve it, -on some of the principal lines in France; and the companies point -to statistics which shew that railway travelling is safer in France -than in Belgium or England; there being not more than _one_ death to -forty-five millions of travellers. - -Professor Marsh's address to the meeting of the American Association -for the Advancement of Science cannot fail to interest all readers -who desire to learn something of the Introduction and Succession of -Vertebrate Life in America. It is a subject very inviting, and very -difficult to trace the succession from fishes to amphibia, reptiles and -birds, and onwards to mammals; but cannot be properly discussed without -the aid of much dry scientific detail. We shall content ourselves -therefore with a few points in the address which admit of presentation -in a popular form. 'During the Triassic time,' says Professor Marsh, -'the Dinosaurs attained in America an enormous development both in -variety of forms and in size. The Triassic sandstone of the Connecticut -valley has long been famous for its fossil footprints, especially the -so-called bird-tracks, which are generally supposed to have been made -by birds. A careful investigation, however, of nearly all the specimens -yet discovered has convinced me that most of these three-toed tracks -were certainly not made by birds; but by quadrupeds which usually -walked upon their hind-feet alone, and only occasionally put to the -ground their smaller anterior extremities.' - -According to present knowledge, the earliest appearance of birds -in America was during the Cretaceous period. Among them was one to -which the name _Hesperornis_ has been given. It was aquatic, nearly -six feet in length, had jaws with teeth set in grooves, rudimentary -wings, and legs similar to those of modern diving-birds. We have it -on the authority of Professor Marsh that this strange creature 'was -essentially a carnivorous swimming ostrich.' - -Coming to the Miocene period, we are told of the Brontotherium, an -animal nearly as large as the elephant, but with much shorter limbs. -A countryman looking at the skeleton of one of these monsters in the -museum at Newhaven, was heard to say: 'Adam must have had a bad time -of it when he branded that critter there.' It was succeeded by the -equally huge _Chalicotherium_. And a little later we have the statement -that 'the Marsupials are clearly the remnants of a very ancient fauna -which occupied the American continent millions of years ago, and from -which the other mammals were doubtless all derived, although the direct -evidence of the transformation is wanting.' - -It has long been supposed that the New World was peopled by migrations -from the Old World. Professor Marsh holds a directly opposite opinion, -whereby an interesting question is presented for discussion. The -surveys and explorations carried on of late years by the United States -government have brought to light such an amazing number of fossils, -indicative of more, that the museums in America will soon be the -largest and the richest in specimens in the world. On the other hand, -we may point to Central Asia, and suggest that when that vast country -shall be thoroughly explored, fossil relics may be discovered more -diversified and interesting even than those of America. - -A remarkable statement occurs in a Report by one of the government -naturalists on the Injurious Insects of the West, namely that in the -United States the loss of agricultural products through the ravages of -insects amounts to 'probably more than two hundred millions of dollars -each year, and that from one-quarter to one-half of this sum might be -saved by preventive measures.' - -Another item from beyond the Atlantic is the gigantic cuttle-fish, -which was found after a storm at Catalina, on the coast of -Newfoundland. The measurements of this monster were: circumference of -body seven feet; length of tentacular arms thirty feet; of the ventral -arms eleven feet, and eye-sockets eight inches diameter. This, the -largest specimen ever preserved, is now in the New York Aquarium. -With a grasp of sixty feet when living, it must have realised the -descriptions in old writers of horrid sea-monsters that devoured -divers, and enveloped even ships with their terrible arms. It is not -the first that has been found on the shores of Newfoundland. - -Readers who prefer the study of geography when mixed with adventures -will find instruction and entertainment in Mr Alfred Simson's _Notes of -Travel Across South America from Guayaquil to the Napo_, an affluent -of the great river of Brazil, as published in the last number of the -Geographical Society's _Journal_. Among descriptions of perilous -incidents, of laborious exertions, and of narrow escapes, are accounts -of wonderful scenery, of natural products, and of some of the native -tribes, which make us aware that much yet remains to be discovered -in that mountainous interior. In one place a party of the numerous -JÃvaros tribe was met with, one of the most independent and warlike in -South America, who withstood alike the attacks of Incas and Spaniards, -and have still a habit of killing white people. A Jesuit padre who -had resided among them three years, told Mr Simson 'that he found it -impossible to make any progress with them.' - -On another occasion Mr Simson explored the almost unknown Putumayo, -one of the largest of the Amazonian tributaries, navigable to the -foot of the Andes, eighteen hundred miles from the sea. This voyage, -aided by the Brazilian government, with a view to steam-navigation, -occupied fifty-seven days, beset by hardships, and the plague of the -blood-thirsty Pium flies, all of which Mr Simson appears to have -overcome by indomitable resolution. - -In reply to further inquiries made regarding vegetable size, we are -told that 'the best and purest, if not the cheapest, is the _haï-thao_, -which is sold by Messrs Renault aîné et fils, 26 Rue du Roi de -Sicile, Paris. Its price (last year) varied from 5.50 to 7 francs per -kilogramme.' We are further told that this 'gum' was applied to the -sizing of cotton cloths with good results, and that it might prove -equally useful for the sizing of other materials such as paper. To one -gallon of water, four ounces of the size are added and _well_ boiled, -the result of which is a jelly which gets very thick when cool. Besides -the _haï-thao_, there are other kinds of size made from sea-weeds, -such as the _gélase_ of M. Martineau, druggist, St Parchaise, Charente -Inférieure--sold at 3.50 francs per kilogramme; the _thao-français_, -sold by M. Steinbach, Petit Guerilly, near Rouen, from 3.50 to 5 -francs; and the _ly-cho_ of M. Fichet, 8 Rue de Chateau, Asnières, -Seine. Of the foregoing we believe the _haï-thao_ size to be the best. - - - - -THE ROLL-CALL OF HOME. - -'FOR VALOUR.' - - - A soldier came from distant lands, to seek his childhood's home: - A gallant boy he marched away, when first he longed to roam - With colours flying o'er his head, with music's thrilling strain; - But now a saddened, dying man, he wandered home again. - - He left his love, the village belle, and cried, in careless glee: - 'When medals shine upon my breast, a hero's bride thou 'lt be.' - To bring his mother laurels back, his youthful heart had yearned; - A simple cross, a life of toil, were all that he had earned. - - Beside the old churchyard there sat, upon a rustic stile, - A pretty little village maid, who gave him smile for smile. - He asked her news of dear old friends--his dog among the rest-- - And trem'lous then he slowly asked for those he loved the best. - - But when his father's, mother's, name she heard him softly say, - The merry face grew grave and sad; the bright smile passed away. - She told, their son was lost or dead, their hearts' delight and pride; - ''Neath yonder yew-tree,' said the maid, 'they're sleeping, side by side.' - - He asked her of his boyhood's love; a joyous answer came; - 'Thou knowest all my friends,' she cried; 'that _was_ my mother's name.' - The soldier's face was fraught with grief she could not understand; - Yet, with a child's quick sympathy, she placed in his her hand. - - 'Come home,' she said; but with a kiss, quoth he, 'That may not be; - I soon shall reach the only home now left, on earth, for me.' - She was his last remaining friend; and thus, life's journey done, - He gave her all he had to give--the cross, too dearly won! - - Bethought the maid, he needs repose as he has come from far; - So prayed that he would tell, some day, the story of the war. - 'We two will rest a little while, for I am tired,' she said; - 'Where daisies grow, beneath the tree, come now and rest thy head.' - - She led him, gently, to the spot; and sleeping, calmly, there, - The mother found them, hand in hand. How different the pair! - _He_ was at peace; but in that rest where sorrow ne'er may come. - Ah! may the soldier then have gained, in Heaven, a better home. - - AUGUSTA A. L. MAGRA. - - * * * * * - -_Volume XIV. of the Fourth Series of CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL is now -completed, price Nine Shillings._ - - * * * * * - -_A Title-page and Index, price One Penny, have been prepared, and may -be ordered through any bookseller._ - - * * * * * - -_An elegant cloth case for binding the whole of the numbers for 1877 is -also ready._ - - * * * * * - -_Back numbers to complete sets may at all times be had._ - - * * * * * - -_Next Saturday, January 5, 1878, will be commenced in this JOURNAL, a -NOVEL, entitled_ - - HELENA, LADY HARROWGATE. - By JOHN B. HARWOOD, - Author of _Lady Flavia_, &c. - - * * * * * - -END OF FOURTEENTH VOLUME. - -Printed and Published by W. and R. Chambers, 47 Paternoster Row, -London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh. - - * * * * * - -_All Rights Reserved._ - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular -Literature, Science, and Art,, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBER'S JOURNAL *** - -***** This file should be named 52100-0.txt or 52100-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/1/0/52100/ - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 731 - December 29, 1877 - -Author: Various - -Editor: William Chambers - Robert Chambers - -Release Date: May 18, 2016 [EBook #52100] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBER'S JOURNAL *** - - - - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_816" id="Page_816">{816}</a></span></p> - -<h1>CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL<br /> -OF<br /> -POPULAR<br /> -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.</h1> - -<div> -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<p class='center'> - -<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> - -<a href="#THE_ROMANCE_OF_ACCIDENT">THE ROMANCE OF ACCIDENT.</a><br /> -<a href="#A_DIFFICULT_QUESTION">A DIFFICULT QUESTION.</a><br /> -<a href="#A_DREAM_AND_ITS_CONSEQUENCES">A DREAM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.</a><br /> -<a href="#ODD_NOTES_FROM_QUEENSLAND">ODD NOTES FROM QUEENSLAND.</a><br /> -<a href="#TAKING_IT_COOLLY">TAKING IT COOLLY.</a><br /> -<a href="#THE_MONTH">THE MONTH:</a><br /> -<a href="#THE_ROLL-CALL_OF_HOME">THE ROLL-CALL OF HOME.</a><br /> - -<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> - -</p> - - -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/header.png" width="600" height="294" alt="Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art. Fourth Series. Conducted by William and Robert Chambers." /> -</div> - - -<hr class="full" /> -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" width="85%"> -<tr><td align="left"><b><span class="smcap">No.</span> 731.</b></td><td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1877.</b></td><td align="right"><b><span class="smcap">Price</span> 1½<i>d.</i></b></td></tr> -</table></div></div> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<div> - - - -<h2><a name="THE_ROMANCE_OF_ACCIDENT" id="THE_ROMANCE_OF_ACCIDENT">THE ROMANCE OF ACCIDENT.</a></h2> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Many</span> of our most important inventions and discoveries -owe their origin to the most trivial -circumstances; from the simplest causes the most -important effects have ensued. The following are -a few culled at random for the amusement of our -readers.</p> - -<p>The trial of two robbers before the Court of -Assizes of the Basses-Pyrénées accidentally led to -a most interesting archæological discovery. The -accused, Rivas a shoemaker, and Bellier a weaver, -by armed attacks on the highways and frequent -burglaries, had spread terror around the neighbourhood -of Sisteron. The evidence against them -was clear; but no traces could be obtained of the -plunder, until one of the men gave a clue to the -mystery. Rivas in his youth had been a shepherd-boy -near that place, and knew the legend of the -Trou d'Argent, a cavern on one of the mountains -with sides so precipitous as to be almost -inaccessible, and which no one was ever known -to have reached. The Commissary of Police of -Sisteron, after extraordinary labour, succeeded in -scaling the mountain, and penetrated to the -mysterious grotto, where he discovered an enormous -quantity of plunder of every description. -The way having been once found, the vast cavern -was afterwards explored by <i>savants</i>; and their -researches brought to light a number of Roman -medals of the third century, flint hatchets, ornamented -pottery, and the remains of ruminants of -enormous size. These interesting discoveries, however, -obtained no indulgence for the accused -(inadvertent) pioneers of science, who were sentenced -to twenty years' hard labour.</p> - -<p>The discovery of gold in Nevada was made -by some Mormon immigrants in 1850. Adventurers -crossed the Sierras and set up their sluice-boxes -in the cañons; but it was gold they were -after, and they never suspected the existence -of silver, nor knew it when they saw it. The -bluish stuff which was so abundant and which -was silver ore, interfered with their operations -and gave them the greatest annoyance. Two -brothers named Grosch possessed more intelligence -than their fellow-workers, and were the real -discoverers of the Comstock lode; but one of them -died from a pickaxe wound in the foot, and the -other was frozen to death in the mountains. Their -secret died with them. When at last, in the early -part of 1859, the surface croppings of the lode -were found, they were worked for the gold they -contained, and the silver was thrown out as being -worthless. Yet this lode since 1860 has yielded -a large proportion of all the silver produced -throughout the world. The silver mines of Potosi -were discovered through the trivial circumstance -of an Indian accidentally pulling up a shrub, to -the roots of which were attached some particles -of the precious metal.</p> - -<p>During the Thirty Years' War in Germany, -the little village of Coserow in the island of -Usedom, on the Prussian border of the Baltic, was -sacked by the contending armies, the villagers -escaping to the hills to save their lives. Among -them was a simple pastor named Schwerdler, -and his pretty daughter Mary. When the danger -was over, the villagers found themselves without -houses, food, or money. One day, we are told, -Mary went up the Streckelberg to gather blackberries; -but soon afterwards she ran back joyous -and breathless to her father, with two shining -pieces of amber each of very great size. She -told her father that near the shore the wind had -blown away the sand from a vein of amber; -that she straightway broke off these pieces with -a stick; that there was an ample store of the -precious substance; and that she had covered it -over to conceal her secret. The amber brought -money, food, clothing, and comfort; but those -were superstitious times, and a legend goes that -poor Mary was burned for witchcraft. At the -village of Stümen, amber was first accidentally -found by a rustic who was fortunate enough to -turn some up with his plough.</p> - -<p>Accidents have prevented as well as caused -the working of mines. At the moment that workmen -were about to commence operations on a rich -gold mine in the Japanese province of Tskungo,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_817" id="Page_817">{817}</a></span> -a violent storm of thunder and lightning burst -over them, and the miners were obliged to seek -shelter elsewhere. These superstitious people, -imagining that the tutelar god and protector of -the spot, unwilling to have the bowels of the earth -thus rifled, had raised the storm to make them -sensible of his displeasure, desisted from all -further attempts to work the mine.</p> - -<p>A cooper in Carniola having one evening placed -a new tub under a dropping spring, in order to -try if it would hold water, when he came in the -morning found it so heavy that he could hardly -move it. At first, the superstitious notions that -are apt to possess the minds of the ignorant -made him suspect that his tub was bewitched; -but at last perceiving a shining fluid at the -bottom, he went to Laubach, and shewed it to -an apothecary, who immediately dismissed him -with a small gratuity, and bid him bring some -more of the same stuff whenever he could meet -with it. This the poor cooper frequently did, -being highly pleased with his good fortune; till -at length the affair being made public, several -persons formed themselves into a society in order -to search farther into the quicksilver deposits, -thus so unexpectedly discovered, and which were -destined to become the richest of their kind in -Europe.</p> - -<p>Curious discoveries by ploughmen, quarrymen, -and others of caves, coins, urns, and other interesting -things, would fill volumes. Many valuable -literary relics have been preserved by curious accidents, -often turning up just in time to save them -from crumbling to pieces. Not only mineral but -literary treasures have been brought to light when -excavating mother earth. For instance, in the -foundations of an old house, Luther's <i>Table Talk</i> -was discovered 'lying in a deep obscure hole, -wrapped in strong linen cloth, which was waxed -all over with beeswax within and without.' There -it had remained hidden ever since its suppression -by Pope Gregory XIII. The poems of Propertius, -a Roman poet, long lurked unsuspected in the -darkness of a wine-cellar, from whence they were -at length unearthed by accident, just in time to -preserve them from destruction by rats and mildew. -Not only from beneath our feet but from above -our heads may chance reveal the hiding-places of -treasure-trove. The sudden falling in of a ceiling, -for example, of some chambers in Lincoln's Inn -revealed the secret depository of the Thurloe -state papers. Other literary treasures have turned -up in an equally curious manner. Milton's essay -on the <i>Doctrines of Christianity</i> was discovered -in a bundle of old despatches: a monk found -the only manuscript of Tacitus accidentally in -Westphalia: the letters of Lady Mary Montagu -were brought to light from the recesses of an old -trunk: the manuscripts of Dr Dee from the secret -drawer of an old chest: and it is said that one of the -cantos of Dante's great poem was found, after being -long mislaid, hidden away beneath a window-sill.</p> - -<p>It is curious to trace how the origin of some -famous work has been suggested apparently by -the merest accident. We need but remind the -reader how Lady Austen's suggestion of 'the sofa' -as a subject for blank verse was the beginning of -<i>The Task</i>, a poem which grew to formidable proportions -under Cowper's facile pen. Another -example of</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">What great events from trivial causes spring,<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>is furnished by Lockhart's account of the gradual -growth of <i>The Lay of the Last Minstrel</i>. The -lovely Countess of Dalkeith hears a wild legend -of Border <i>diablerie</i>, and sportively asks Scott to -make it the subject of a ballad. The poet's -accidental confinement in the midst of a yeomanry -camp gave him leisure to meditate his theme to -the sound of the bugle; suddenly there flashes on -him the idea of extending his simple outline so as -to embrace a vivid panorama of that old Border -life of war and tumult. A friend's suggestion led -to the arrangement and framework of the <i>Lay</i> and -the conception of the ancient Harper. Thus step -by step grew the poem that first made its author -famous. The manuscript of <i>Waverley</i> lay hidden -away in an old cabinet for years before the public -were aware of its existence. In the words of the -Great Unknown: 'I had written the greater part of -the first volume and sketched other passages, when -I mislaid the manuscript; and only found it by -the merest accident, as I was rummaging the -drawer of an old cabinet; and I took the fancy of -finishing it.'</p> - -<p>Charlotte Brontë's chance discovery of a manuscript -volume of verses in her sister Emily's -handwriting led, from a mutual confession of the -<i>furor poeticus</i>, to the joint publication of their -poems, which though adding little to their subsequent -fame, at least gives us another instance -of how much of what is called chance has often to -do with the carrying out of literary projects. It -was the burning of Drury Lane Theatre that led -to the production of <i>The Rejected Addresses</i>, the -success of which, says one of the authors, 'decided -him to embark in that literary career, which the -favour of the novel-reading world rendered both -pleasant and profitable to him.' Most of us know -how that famous fairy tale <i>Alice in Wonderland</i> -came to be written. The characters in <i>Oliver -Twist</i> of Fagin, Sikes, and Nancy were suggested -by some sketches of Cruikshank, who long had a -design to shew the life of a London thief by a -series of drawings. Dickens, while paying Cruikshank -a visit, happened to turn over some sketches -in a portfolio. When he came to that one which -represents Fagin in the condemned cell, he studied -it for half an hour, and told his friend that he was -tempted to change the whole plot of his story, not -to carry Oliver through adventures in the country, -but to take him up into the thieves' den in London, -shew what this life was, and bring Oliver through -it without sin or shame. Cruikshank consented -to let Dickens write up to as many of the drawings -as he thought would suit his purpose. So the story -as it now runs resulted in a great measure from -that chance inspection of the artist's portfolio. -The remarkable picture of the Jew malefactor in -the condemned cell biting his nails in the torture -of remorse, is associated with a happy accident. -The artist had been labouring at the subject for -several days, and thought the task hopeless; when -sitting up in his bed one morning with his hand -on his chin and his fingers in his mouth, the -whole attitude expressive of despair, he saw his -face in the cheval glass. 'That's it!' he exclaimed; -'that's the expression I want.' And he soon -finished the picture.</p> - -<p>The sudden prosperity of many a famous -painter has resulted from some fortunate accident. -Anthony Watteau, when a nameless struggling -artist, timidly offered a painting to a rich picture-dealer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_818" id="Page_818">{818}</a></span> -for six francs, and was on the eve of being -scornfully rejected, had not a stranger, who -happened to be in the shop, come forward, and -seeing some talent in the work, spoke encouragingly -to the youth, and offered him one hundred -and fifty francs for the picture; nor was this all, -for he became Watteau's patron and instructor.—One -day a little shepherd-boy was seated near the -road-side on the way from Vespignano to Florence -drawing upon a polished stone, his only pencil -another polished stone which he held in his tiny -fingers. A richly dressed stranger, who had -descended from a conveyance that was following -him, chanced to pass, and looking over the boy's -shoulder, saw that he had just sketched with -wonderful truth and correctness a sheep and its -twin lambs. Surprised and pleased, he examined -the face of the young artist. Certainly it was not -its beauty that attracted him. The child looked -up, but with such a marvellous light in his dark -eyes, that the stranger exclaimed: 'My child, you -must come with me; I will be your master and -your father: it is some good angel that has led -me here.' The stranger was Cimabue, the most -celebrated painter of that day; and his pupil and -protégé became the famous painter, sculptor, and -architect Giotto, the friend and admiration of -Dante and Petrarch.</p> - -<p>How the fortunes of painters may hinge upon -the most trifling circumstances, has another example -in that of Ribera or Spagnoletto, which -was determined by a very simple incident. He -went to reside with his father-in-law, whose -house, it so happened, stood in the vast square -one side of which was occupied by the palace of -the Spanish Viceroy. It was the custom in Italy, -as formerly amongst the Greeks, that whenever -an artist had completed any great work, he should -expose it in some street or thoroughfare, for the -public to pass judgment on it. In compliance -with this usage, Ribera's father-in-law placed in -his balcony the 'Martyrdom of St Bartholomew' -as soon as it was finished. The people flocked in -crowds to see it, and testified their admiration by -deafening shouts of applause. These acclamations -reached the ears of the Viceroy, who imagined that -a fresh revolt had broken out, and rushed in complete -armour to the spot. There he beheld in -the painting the cause of so much tumult. The -Viceroy desired to see the man who had distinguished -himself by so marvellous a production; -and his interest in the painter was not lessened on -discovering that he was, like himself, a Spaniard. -He immediately attached Spagnoletto to his person, -gave him an apartment in his palace, and proved -a generous patron ever afterwards.</p> - -<p>Lanfranco, the wealthy and munificent artist, on -his way from the church Il Gesú, happened to -observe an oil-painting hanging outside a picture-broker's -shop. Lanfranco stopped his carriage, -and desired the picture to be brought to him. -Wiping the thick dust from the canvas, the -delighted broker brought it, with many bows and -apologies, to the great master, who on nearer -inspection saw that his first glance had been -correct. The picture was labelled 'Hagar and her -Son Ishmael dying of Thirst,' and the subject was -treated in a new and powerful manner. Lanfranco -looked for the name of the painter, and detecting -the word Salvatoriello modestly set in a corner of -the picture, he gave instructions to his pupils to -buy up every work of Salvatoriello they could find -in Naples. To this accident Salvator owed the -sudden demand for his pictures, which changed -his poverty and depression into comparative ease -and satisfaction.</p> - -<p>More than one famous singer might probably -never have been heard of but for some discriminating -patron chancing to hear a beautiful voice, -perhaps exercised in the streets for the pence of -the compassionate.—Some happy stage-hits have -resulted from or originated in accidents. The odd -hop skip and jump so effective in the delineation -of Dundreary, says an American interviewer of Mr -Sothern, was brought about in this way. In the -words of the actor: 'It was a mere accident. I -have naturally an elastic disposition, and during a -rehearsal one cold morning I was hopping at the -back of the stage, when Miss Keene sarcastically -inquired if I was going to introduce that into Dundreary. -The actors and actresses standing around -laughed; and taking the cue, I replied: "Yes, -Miss Keene; that's my view of the character." -Having said this, I was bound to stick to it; and -as I progressed with the rehearsal, I found that -the whole company, including scene-shifters and -property-men, were roaring with laughter at my -infernal nonsense. When I saw that the public -accepted the satire, I toned down what was a broad -caricature to what can be seen at the present -day by any one who has a quick sense of the -absurd.'</p> - -<p>An excellent landscape of Salvator Rosa's exhibited -at the British Institution in 1823 came to -be painted in a curious way. The painter happened -one day to be amusing himself by tuning an -old harpsichord; some one observed they were surprised -he could take so much trouble with an -instrument that was not worth a crown. 'I bet -you I make it worth a thousand before I have -done with it!' cried Rosa. The bet was taken; and -Salvator painted on the harpsichord a landscape -that not only sold for a thousand crowns, but -was esteemed a first-rate painting.—Chemistry and -pathology are indebted to what has often seemed -the merest chance for many an important discovery. -A French paper says it has been accidentally -discovered that in cases of epileptic fits, -a black silk handkerchief thrown over the afflicted -persons will restore them immediately. Advances -in science and art and sudden success in professions -have often more to do with the romance of -accident than most people imagine; but as we -may have occasion again to take up the subject, -we quit it for the present.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /></div><div> -<h2><a name="A_DIFFICULT_QUESTION" id="A_DIFFICULT_QUESTION">A DIFFICULT QUESTION.</a></h2> - -<p class='ph3'>THE STORY OF TWO CHRISTMAS EVES.</p> - -<p class='ph3'>IN TWO CHAPTERS.</p> - - -<h3>CHAPTER II.—ANSWERED.</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> mistletoe hung from the chandelier, the -holly wreaths were on the walls, the clear fire shed -a warm glow through the dimly lighted room, -upon pictures and gilding, upon a great vase filled -with crimson camellias, upon Ralph Loraine's dark -handsome face. Christmas eve again, his first year -in England over. How little certainty there is in -this world; when we think we have smoothed our -path, and see our way straight before us, there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_819" id="Page_819">{819}</a></span> -rises up some roughness, some unevenness we have -left unnoticed, or thought too small to trouble us. -So with Ralph; he had answered the question he -asked himself last Christmas eve by another; he -was very happy, but he was thinking now as he -leaned against the mantel-piece whether he could -bear to leave the army and give up the life he had -led for so long; the life, at times one of bold -daring, at others of lazy pleasure, which had suited -him so well; that even now, with the wish of his -heart fulfilled, it cost him a struggle to bid farewell -to it, and to settle down into a quiet country -gentleman. He had kept his oath to his dead -friend, the oath he had taken in answer to the -faintly spoken words, 'I meant to have made her -so happy.' Louise would remain in her old home -as its mistress.</p> - -<p>It had been a happy year to Ralph, and had -glided away so quickly since that first night when -he had seen her standing in the snowy churchyard, -listening to words which sounded very much like -love from another man's lips. That other had, -however, confirmed his opinion. Vere Leveson -had been away with his regiment during all the -twelve months; not once had he met Louise; the -field had been clear for Ralph. Yet it was only a -week since he had spoken; he had not dared at -first to break through the barrier of childish affection. -She looked upon him as her guardian, her -father's friend, with the same grateful reverence -she might have given to that father had he lived; -so he had tried very gently to awaken deeper feelings, -through the sweet early spring-time and the -glowing summer days, till when the leaves were -lying in brown showers upon the sodden earth, she -had grown silent, shy, and distant, and so cold -that he thought all hope was gone. He went away -in November; and when he returned, his love -unspoken became torture to his upright nature; -he could not bear to live there day by day, to see -her so often, to let her kiss him as a daughter -might have done, and all the while that hidden -passion burning in his heart. But after his temporary -absence she had changed again; she was -more as she had been, gentle, playfully loving; and -so one day he had spoken. He told her of her dying -father's words; how his great wish had been that -she should never feel the loss he had caused her; -how her happiness was his first object in life; and -how that life would be indeed worthless and barren, -should he go back to it alone. Grateful, she -answered as he wished, and Ralph held in his arms -as his betrothed wife the child he had promised to -watch over in the silence of the Indian dawn.</p> - -<p>'But you must give me time,' she had said -timidly. 'I have never thought of you but as my -guardian, Ralph.' She dropped the name of her -childhood then, as a tacit acknowledgment that -those days were over, and that she would learn to -love him henceforth, not with a child's grateful -unquestioning love, but with the tenderness of a -wife.</p> - -<p>She was the only one surprised by the event; all -the neighbourhood had known it long before; so -had Mrs Loraine and Emma; so had Katharine, -whose wedding-day was now approaching, and -whose bridegroom was Sir Michael Leyland. The -drawing-room door opened, and Louise entered -into the uncertain light, wearing the dress he had -chosen for her—white bridal-looking silk, and -holly wreaths like those she had worn last year. -She went up to him composedly, with none of a -young fiancée's usual bashfulness.</p> - -<p>'Do you like my dress, Ralph?' she said, looking -up with her sweet dark eyes, as he bent down -and touched the rosy lips.</p> - -<p>'I do,' he answered. 'You are always lovely, -darling; last year I thought the same, but then -things were different. I did not dare to hope for -such happiness as this.'</p> - -<p>'Are you happy, Ralph?'</p> - -<p>'Happier than I have ever been in my whole -life,' he whispered.</p> - -<p>Then the others came in, and they started for -the annual ball at Leigh Park. Vere Leveson had -returned a week ago; and as he stood among his -father's guests there was a troubled look on his -face which deepened ever as the white silk folds of -the holly-wreathed dress brushed past him, or the -dark eyes watching its wearer met hers. At last -he went to her.</p> - -<p>'Are you engaged for this, Miss Wrayworth?' -he said abruptly.</p> - -<p>'No,' she answered.</p> - -<p>'Then you will give it to me?'</p> - -<p>Once more he held her in his arms, once more -her hand rested in his, as they glided slowly -round the room. Vere did not speak till the -waltz was ended, and then he led her to the same -window where they had stood a year ago. The -same stars were shining down on the same world, -only that night there was no snow-shroud over the -dead flowers, and the moon was half hidden by a -great splash of cloud. The same first faint Christmas -bells were sounding in the distance, mingled -with the echoes of a carol sung by boys' clear -voices, telling for the angels the old story they had -told so long ago.</p> - -<p>'I wish you a merry Christmas,' Vere said, -looking down on her with a half-scornful smile. -'What mockery there is in that salutation sometimes. -If you were to say it to me, for instance.'</p> - -<p>'Indeed I hope you will have one,' she answered -timidly.</p> - -<p>'I must go a long way to find it then,' he muttered. -'But I beg your pardon, Miss Wrayworth; -I must congratulate you. I met—your sister I -was going to say—Miss Loraine I mean, as I was -on my way to call upon you the other day, and -she told me of your engagement.'</p> - -<p>'But you did not come,' said Louise.</p> - -<p>'No; I thought you would be occupied. I congratulate -you,' he repeated.</p> - -<p>'Thank you,' she answered very low.</p> - -<p>'Major Loraine is completely calculated to make -a wife happy, I should think,' said Vere, in the -same cold scornful tone.</p> - -<p>She lifted her head quickly. 'Indeed he is; he -is the best, noblest, most generous man that -breathes!'</p> - -<p>'And you love him?'</p> - -<p>'He has been everything to me all my life long, -Mr Leveson—father, brother, friend. Would you -not have me do what I can to prove my gratitude?'</p> - -<p>'By making him a still nearer relation? Certainly. -But for my part, there is one thing I -should rather choose my wife to feel for me than -gratitude. How everything changes in this world!' -he added abruptly. 'Can it possibly be only one -year since I stood at this same window with a girl -by my side who promised to <i>remember</i> me and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_820" id="Page_820">{820}</a></span> -<i>trust</i> me till next Christmas? Such a short time! -only twelve little months. I suppose it is true -that</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Woman's love is writ in water,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Woman's faith is traced on sand.<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>But I never believed it.'</p> - -<p>'I hope you will not find it so,' said the girl -softly, as she played nervously with the shining -holly leaves, breaking them, and crushing the -scarlet berries till they fell spoiled upon the floor. -'I must congratulate <i>you</i>.'</p> - -<p>'I beg your pardon! Congratulate me! What -upon?'</p> - -<p>'Your—your engagement.'</p> - -<p>'My engagement! And may I ask to whom?'</p> - -<p>'To Miss Leslie.'</p> - -<p>'What!' he exclaimed. 'What do you mean? -Alice Leslie! Who can have told you such a -falsehood?'</p> - -<p>'Katharine heard it when she was in London.'</p> - -<p>There was a long, long silence, while each -guessed the other's secret.</p> - -<p>'Is it not true?' she said at last.</p> - -<p>'No; on my soul!' he answered. 'I never said -a word to that girl all the world might not have -heard. I engaged to <i>her</i>! No! O Louise!' he -cried passionately; 'Louise, my darling! I have -loved you so long, and this is the end of it! Did -not you know last year that I loved you and you -only, when I asked you to trust me? I have been -silent for a year, to obey my father, and—I have -lost you!'</p> - -<p>His voice trembled as he caught her hands, and -a great longing tenderness gleamed in his deep -blue eyes. 'Did not you love me, Louise? Have -I been fool enough to delude myself all these -months?'</p> - -<p>'I was very—very unhappy when Katharine -told me.' The answer was simply, hopelessly -spoken, and there was another silence, broken -again by her voice. 'Vere,' she said, 'Vere—I -may call you so just this once—we have made a -terrible mistake; but I must keep my word. Say -good-bye to me, and let me go.'</p> - -<p>'Oh, my darling! my darling!'</p> - -<p>'Hush! Vere, hush!' she said brokenly. 'I owe -<i>him</i> a debt nothing can ever pay; and I know he -will keep the promise he made to my father years -ago, to try and make me happy.'</p> - -<p>'God helping me, I will!' It was Ralph Loraine's -voice that spoke; Ralph Loraine's dark fearless -eyes that rested upon her; Ralph Loraine's loyal -hand which took her cold one, as she started back -from the man she loved.</p> - -<p>'Don't look frightened, dear,' he said gently. -'Poor child, how you must have suffered! Louise! -do you think I would let you bear one moment's -pain to save myself from a lifetime of misery? -Forgive me, dear; the dream has been very bright, -and the awaking is'—he paused for a moment and -steadied his voice—'a little hard; but I shall soon -be used to it. The vow I made to your dead father, -I will still keep, Louise; I am your guardian, -nothing more. Forget what has been between us, -child, as soon as you can.' He turned, and held -out his hand to Vere. 'It is a precious charge I -give up to you,' he said solemnly; 'you must help -me to keep my vow.' He paused, then added -tremulously: 'You must make her happy for me.' -Then without another word he passed out through -the open window into the wintry moonlit garden, -and left them alone.</p> - -<p>He wandered down the avenue through the -open gate among the waiting carriages on to the -silent fields, bearing the sorrow bravely, the utter -wreck of his life's sweetest hopes. 'Which is the -harder,' he thought bitterly as he hurried on, -scarcely knowing where he went, 'to lay down life -or love?' In his great unselfishness he never blamed -her who had wrought this trouble; he had vowed -to make her happy; he had done his duty, nothing -more, but it was hard to do. It had been a fearful -temptation as he listened, to go away without -speaking, and so keep her his; but he had conquered. -Yet it seemed as though he could not -live without her, as though that one happy week -had swallowed up his whole existence, as though -he had loved all his life instead of for one short -year; and he looked up piteously to the cloudy -heavens, to the wintry moon, seeking for the -comfort that was not to be found, longing, in his -wretchedness, to lie down upon the cold wet grass -and sleep never to wake again.</p> - -<p>'Won't you remember the carols?'</p> - -<p>A shrill voice broke in upon his thoughts; he -started, looking down suddenly, vacantly, as -though he did not comprehend.</p> - -<p>Two boys stood there, on their way home across -the fields. 'Hush!' said the elder; 'don't you see -it's the Major? Merry Christmas, sir!'</p> - -<p>Ah! how mockingly those words sounded now. -The greeting stung him as the taunt of a fiend; -he turned and hurried on. He paused breathlessly -at the stile leading into the next field; all his -strength seemed to have left him as he stood there -alone with his grief. Then from the distance was -wafted to him the sound of the boys' voices, and -the words they sung were these:</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">All glory be to God on high,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And to the earth be peace;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Good-will henceforth from heaven to men<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Begin and never cease!<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>Somehow they comforted him as no human sympathy -could have done—the grand old words, the -simple tune, the children's voices. Though he -did not know that by what he had done that -night, he had fulfilled as far as might be the -charge given in the angels' song.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /></div><div> -<h2><a name="A_DREAM_AND_ITS_CONSEQUENCES" id="A_DREAM_AND_ITS_CONSEQUENCES">A DREAM AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.</a></h2> - - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> I was about twelve years of age I was -invited by Mrs Hall, my god-mother, to pay her -a visit before going to a boarding-school, where -I was to remain for a few years. My mother had -died when I was very young; and my father -thought it better for me to be at a nice school, -where I would be amongst girls of my own age, -than in the house with only his sister and himself. -Mrs Hall was very fond of me; she had no -children of her own; and had my father consented, -she and Mr Hall would have taken me to live with -them entirely.</p> - -<p>It was a lovely day in June when I arrived at -my god-mother's; and she was delighted to see me. -The house was beautifully situated on high ground, -surrounded by grand old trees, and at one side was -a flower-garden.</p> - -<p>One morning god-mother said to me: 'Come upstairs -with me, Lilian, and I will shew you some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_821" id="Page_821">{821}</a></span> -Indian jewels that my uncle left me lately.' She -opened the drawer of an inlaid sandal-wood -cabinet and took out a small case, in which were -a pair of ear-rings, a brooch, and necklet of most -beautiful diamonds. I thought I had never seen -anything so beautiful before. 'My dear Lilian,' -said she, 'I intend to give you these on your -sixteenth birthday. I see, however, there is a -stone loose in one of the ear-rings, so I will take -it into town to-day and have it repaired.' She -folded it up carefully and put it in her purse; the -case with the other diamonds she put in one of -the drawers of her dressing-glass.</p> - -<p>After lunch, Mr and Mrs Hall took me with them -to the town, which was about four miles distant. -The ear-ring was left at the jeweller's, and as we -were to spend the day at a friend's house, we -arranged to call for it on our way back. But you -will say what has all this to do with your dream? -Well, wait a little and you will see.</p> - -<p>We spent a pleasant day, called for the ear-ring -on our way, and arrived home about half-past -nine o'clock. As I was taking off my bonnet, god-mother -came into the room. 'Lilian,' said she, -'I cannot find the case of diamonds anywhere. -Did I not leave it in the drawer in my dressing-glass, -before I went out? I went to put in the -other ear-ring now, and it was not there. Who -can have taken it?'</p> - -<p>'You certainly left it in the dressing-glass -drawer,' I said. 'Could any of the servants have -taken it, do you think?'</p> - -<p>'I am sure they would not,' she answered. 'I -have had them with me for years, and never -missed anything before.'</p> - -<p>'Are there any strangers about that could have -come in through the window?'</p> - -<p>'No, Lilian; there are no strangers about the -place except the gardener, and he seems a most -respectable man. I got a very high character of -him from his last place; in fact we were told he -was a most trustworthy person.'</p> - -<p>Next day there was a wonderful commotion -about the missing jewel-case. The police were -sent for, and every place was searched over and -over again, but to no purpose. One thing, however, -puzzled us: on the window-sill was a footmark, -and near the dressing-table a little bit of -earth, as if off a shoe or boot; which led us to -think that the thief must have come in through -the window. But how did he get up to it? It was -a good height from the ground, and the creeping -plants were not in the least broken, as would -have been the case had any one climbed up by -them. A ladder must have been employed; and it -was little to the credit of the police that this fact -had not been properly considered. As the matter -stood, it was a mystery, and seemed likely to -remain so, and only one ear-ring was left of the -valuable set.</p> - -<p>In a few days I left for school, where I remained -for four years. I spent every vacation between -my home and my god-mother's. We often spoke -of the stolen diamonds; but nothing had ever been -heard of them, though a reward of fifty pounds -had been offered by Mr Hall for any information -that would lead to the detection of the thief. On -my sixteenth birthday my god-mother gave me a -beautiful watch and chain and the diamond ear-ring, -which she had got arranged as a necklet.</p> - -<p>'I am so sorry, Lilian,' said she, 'that I have -not the rest of those diamonds to give you; but if -ever they are found, they shall be yours, my dear.'</p> - -<p>I must now pass over six years, which went by -quietly and happily, nothing very important taking -place until the last year, during which time I had -been married. My husband was a barrister. We -lived in the north of England. My mother-in-law -Mrs Benson, and Mary, one of her daughters, lived -some miles away from us near the sea-coast. It was -a very lonely place, a long way from the little fishing-town, -or rather village, of Burnley. I confess -I often felt very nervous about Mrs Benson and -her daughter living alone (her husband being dead -many years). Except three women-servants in the -house, and the coachman and his family who lived -in the lodge, there was no one nearer than Burnley, -four miles off. Besides, it was known that there -was a large quantity of plate in the house; and the -little sea-side village was often the resort of -smugglers and other wild and lawless characters. -One day, while thinking of them, I felt so uneasy -that I said to my husband: 'I hope, Henry, there -is nothing wrong with your mother; she has been -in my mind all day.'</p> - -<p>'Oh,' said he, 'why should you feel anxious -about her to-day? I saw her last Tuesday; and if -she were ill, Mary would be sure to let us know. -It is only one of your "fancies," little wife.'</p> - -<p>Still I did not feel easy, for more than once -before my so-called 'fancy' had proved to be a -'reality;' so I determined that in a few days I -would go and see Mrs Benson. All that evening I -could not get her out of my thoughts, and it was a -long time before I went to sleep. I think it must -have been about three o'clock in the morning that -I woke in a state of terror. I had dreamed that I -saw Mrs Benson standing in the window of her -bedroom, beckoning me to come to her, and pointing -to a female figure who was stealing along under -the shade of the trees in the avenue, for the moon -was shining brightly.</p> - -<p>I started up, thinking I heard her calling me. -And here is the most extraordinary part of it all—though -I was now quite awake, I heard, as I -thought, a voice saying to me: 'Go, tell Mrs -Benson, Martha is deceiving her; tell her to send -her away at once.'</p> - -<p>Three times these words seemed to be repeated -in my ear. I can't describe exactly what the voice -was like: it was not loud, but quite distinct; and I -felt as I listened that it was a warning, and that -I <i>must</i> obey it. I woke my husband, and told -him my dream and the words I had heard. He -tried to calm my mind, and evidently thought me -foolish to be so frightened by only a stupid dream. -I said I would drive over the first thing after -breakfast, and see if anything was wrong with -Mary or her mother. The only thing that puzzled -me was that Martha should be mentioned as -deceiving Mrs Benson. She acted as housekeeper -and lady's-maid to her, and was believed to be -most trustworthy in every way. She had been -four years with her; and was much respected. -She was a silent reserved kind of person, about -thirty-five years of age. One thing I had often -remarked about her was, that when speaking to -any one she never looked straight at them; but I -thought it might be from a kind of shyness more -than anything else.</p> - -<p>As soon as breakfast was over I set off, telling -my husband I would very likely not return until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_822" id="Page_822">{822}</a></span> -next day; and if possible, he was to come for me. -He could drive over early and spend the day; and -we would return home together in the evening, -if all was well with his mother.</p> - -<p>When I arrived I found Mrs Benson and Mary -looking as well as ever, and everything seemingly -just as usual. Martha was sitting at work in -her little room, which opened off Mrs Benson's -dressing-room. I could not help looking at her -more closely than I would have done at another -time, and I thought I saw a look of displeasure -cross her face at seeing me. Mary and her mother -were of course delighted to see me, and asked -why Henry did not come too. So I told them I -would stay till the next day, if they would have -me, and Henry would come for me then. They -were quite pleased at that arrangement; for it -was not very often my husband could spend a -whole day with them.</p> - -<p>As the day passed on and nothing out of the -way happened, I began to think I had frightened -myself needlessly, and that my dream or vision -might have been the result of an over-anxious mind. -And then Martha, what about her? Altogether I -was perplexed. I did not know what to think; -but I still felt a certain undefined uneasiness. I -offered up a silent prayer to be directed to do -right, and determined to wait patiently and do -nothing for a while. I almost hoped I might -hear the voice again, giving me definite instructions -how to act. Lunch passed and dinner also; -and the evening being very warm, for it was -the middle of July, we sat at the open window -enjoying the cooling breeze that set in from the -sea.</p> - -<p>As they were early people, shortly after ten -o'clock we said 'good-night,' and went up to our -bedrooms. My room looked on the avenue, some -parts of which were in deep shade, while in other -parts the moonlight shone brightly through breaks -in the trees. I did not feel in the least sleepy; -and putting out my candle, I sat by the window, -looking at the lovely view; for I could see the -coast quite plainly, and the distant sea glistened -like silver in the moonlight. I did not think -how long I had been sitting there, until I heard -the hall clock strike twelve. Just then I heard, -as I thought, a footstep outside my door, which -evidently stopped there, and then in a few seconds -passed on. I did not mind, thinking it might -be one of the servants, who had been up later -than usual, and was now going quietly to bed. -I began to undress, not lighting the candle again, -as I had light enough from the moon. As I came -towards the window to close it, I saw, exactly -as in my dream, a female figure—evidently keeping -in the shade of the trees—going down the avenue. -I determined to follow and see who it was, for I -now felt the warning voice was not sent to me for -nothing, and I seemed to get courage, girl though -I was, to fathom the mystery. I hastily dressed, -threw a dark shawl over my head, and going -noiselessly down-stairs, opened the glass door in -the drawing-room window, and left it so that I -could come in again. I kept in the shade of the -trees as much as possible, and quickly followed -the path I had seen the woman take. Presently -I heard voices; one was a man's, the other a -woman's. But who was she? I came close, and -got behind a large group of thick shrubs. I could -now see and hear them quite well; they were -standing in the light; I was in deep shade. Just -then the woman turned her head towards me. It -was <i>Martha</i>! What did she want there at that -hour? And who was this man? I was puzzled. -Where had I seen that face before? for that -I <i>had</i> seen it before, I was certain; but -where, and when, I could not remember. He -was speaking in a low voice, and I did not hear -very distinctly what he said, but the last few -words were: 'And why not to-night? Delays are -always dangerous, especially now, as they are -beginning to suspect me.'</p> - -<p>'Because Mrs Benson's daughter-in-law is here, -and she is sleeping in the room over the plate-closet, -and would be sure to hear the least noise. -Wait until to-morrow night; she will be gone then. -But indeed John, I don't like this business at all. -I think we'd better give it up. No luck will come -of it, I am sure.'</p> - -<p>'Look here, Martha,' said the man. 'I have a -chance of getting safe off now. I have it all settled, -if you will only help me to get this old woman's -plate. With that and a few little trinkets I happened -to pick up a few years ago, you and I may -set up in business over in America. The other -fellows will help me. Meet me here to-morrow -night, to let me know that all is safe for us. See -here. I have brought you a valuable present. -Keep it until the plate is secure with me; for you -must stay here until all blows over; then make -some excuse for leaving, and come over and join -me in New York. If you want money, sell these -diamonds in Liverpool; they are worth no end of -money.'</p> - -<p>I could see quite well that he took something -out of his pocket and gave it to her. She -held it up to look at it; and there, glistening in -bright moonlight, I saw—my god-mother's diamond -ear-ring! the one that had been stolen over -nine years ago with the other jewels from her -room.</p> - -<p>Here then at last was the mystery solved, everything -made clear, and all through my dream! -Presently the light fell on the man's face again, -and I instantly recognised my god-mother's very -respectable gardener. A decent man he was -believed to be, but a thief all the time, and -one who hid his evil deeds under a cloak of -religion. And who was this woman he seemed to -have got such power over? Evidently his wife; -for I gathered that from his conversation with her. -I waited where I was until they were both gone—Martha -back to the house, and her husband to the -village; then as quietly as I could I returned to -the house and reached my room. Falling on my -knees I gave thanks to God for making me the -means of finding out such a wicked plot, and -perhaps saving the lives of more than one under -that roof; for it is more than likely that had those -desperate men been disturbed in their midnight -plunder, they would not have hesitated at any -deed which would enable them to carry out their -wicked plans.</p> - -<p>I slept little that night, and next morning -tried to appear calm and composed, though I was -frightened and really ill. I was longing for my -husband to come, that I might tell him all, and -consult what was best to be done, to prevent -robbery and perhaps bloodshed. At last, to my -great relief, I saw him coming. I ran to the gate -to meet him, and told him what I had seen and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_823" id="Page_823">{823}</a></span> -heard the night before. 'Now,' I said, 'will you -ever laugh at my "fancies" again?'</p> - -<p>'No, my dear little wife,' said he; 'I never -will.'</p> - -<p>We then arranged that we should tell his mother -and sister everything; and he was to go to the -nearest police station and arrange with the chief -officer to have a number of men ready in the wood -near the house at twelve o'clock that night; that -after dinner we were to say 'good-bye' to Mrs -Benson, and drive home; but would return and -join the police in the wood, and wait there until -we saw Martha leave the house to meet her husband. -We were then to go in and wait until the -thieves came in, when they were to be surrounded -and taken prisoners. My husband wanted me -to remain at our own house; but I would not -do so, as I said I would only be imagining all -sorts of dreadful things; besides, I knew his -mother and Mary would like to have me with -them.</p> - -<p>It all turned out as well as could be. The night -was very fine; and just at twelve o'clock Martha -stole down to the place where I had seen her the -night before; then we all, about a dozen policemen -and ourselves, went into the house. The men -were stationed out of sight in different rooms, -waiting for the robbers' entrance. Henry came up -to Mrs Benson's room, where all of us women -were, including the two servants. With breathless -anxiety we watched and waited. From where -I stood I could see the way they would come.</p> - -<p>It was about two o'clock when I saw Martha -coming up the walk and four men with her. -'Look!' I said; 'there they are.' They went -round to the back door, and we heard them stealing -along the passage in the direction of the plate-closet. -Then a sudden rush—a scream from the -wretched Martha—imprecations loud and bitter—a -shot!—another scream!</p> - -<p>'May God grant no lives will be lost!' we -prayed.</p> - -<p>Poor Mary nearly fainted. At last we heard the -officer call Henry to come down. The four men -were well secured and taken to the police station. -Martha was taken there too. She confessed she -had let them in for the purpose of stealing the -silver. One of the robbers was slightly wounded -in the arm, but no one else was hurt. Very -thankful was I when I found next day that none -was the worse for having gone through such a -terrible scene.</p> - -<p>The house where Martha's husband lodged was -searched, and the case of diamonds and many -other valuable articles found there. This immensely -respectable gardener had been a disgrace -to his family and his profession. Left very much -to himself through the indulgence of his employer, -he had contracted habits of tippling with low associates -at the neighbouring village, and become so -completely demoralised, as at length to assume the -degraded character of a burglar. Now came the -retribution which attends on wrong-doing. The -thieves were all tried at the next assizes, and sentenced -to various terms of imprisonment.</p> - -<p>It is now many years since all this happened; -but I can never forget what I went through those -two dreadful nights; though I remember with -thankfulness, that through my dream and the -warning voice I heard, I was the means of averting -a great wrong, and perhaps murder. I do not -impute anything supernatural to my dream. It -may have merely been the result of tension of -feelings, supported by some coincidences. At all -events, the results were such as I have described.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /></div><div> -<h2><a name="ODD_NOTES_FROM_QUEENSLAND" id="ODD_NOTES_FROM_QUEENSLAND">ODD NOTES FROM QUEENSLAND.</a></h2> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Queensland</span>, as is pretty generally known, is the -latest planted British colony in Australia, and has -already made a surprising degree of progress. -Situated on the coast of the Pacific, to the north -of New South Wales, its more settled parts enjoy -a delightful climate, which is said to resemble -that of Madeira. It is usually thought that nowhere -in the world do new and small towns -develop so speedily into populous cities as in the -United States; but in this respect Queensland can -shew results nearly as remarkable. In Brisbane, -the capital of the colony, one finds immense enterprise, -with all the tokens of civilisation on the -English model. A correspondent favours us with -the following notes suggested by the <i>Queenslander</i>, -which we presume to be the leading newspaper in -the colony.</p> - -<p>A cursory glance down the advertising columns -of the <i>Queenslander</i> gives one no mean notion of -the colony's capacities. One auctioneer announces -for sale three thousand square miles of land, -twenty-one thousand head of cattle, and a hundred -and twenty-four thousand sheep. A dairy herd -of six hundred head is in the market here, and -there a stock-owner announces he has seven hundred -pure merino rams to dispose of. Sugar-plantations, -salt-works, gold mines, are on offer; and—incontrovertible -proof of the land's capabilities—nurserymen -are ready to supply all comers with -seeds or roots 'of all the favourite flowers known -in England,' of every kind of grass and grain and -vegetable familiar to the British farmer and market-gardener; -and keep in stock thoroughly acclimatised -apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, -apricots, nectarines, quinces, mulberries, walnuts, -chestnuts, cobnuts, grapes, figs, limes, lemons, -oranges, dates, guavas, and mangoes, in every -approved variety.</p> - -<p>One correspondent extols the merits of chicory -as a profitable thing to grow; another relates his -successful attempts at rice-raising; and a third -waxes eloquent anent the unique garden of Mr -Barnes of Mackay, with its groves and avenues of -cocoa-nut trees; its hundreds of fine date-trees; -its grapes, oranges, apples, and fruits of all climes -and seasons, thriving together; its enormous -melons and magnificent pines ripening and rotting -around. The owner looks forward to reaping a -large profit from his twelve hundred cocoa-nut -trees, many of them now thirty feet high, although -as yet the return for his ten years' labour and -expenditure has been something not worth mentioning.</p> - -<p>Then we have an account of 'the acclimated -wonders of the vegetable kingdom blooming in -this present February 1877, in the government -Botanic Gardens of Brisbane;' said gardens being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_824" id="Page_824">{824}</a></span> -then in the height of their midsummer glory, and -a perfect blaze of colour. 'One of the most strikingly -handsome as well as curious trees in the -gardens is the <i>Kilgeria pinnata</i>, from India. Its -branches bear a kind of drooping flexible vine-rope -or liana stem, each of which terminates in a large -spike of flowers; while at various parts of the said -rope pendants, hang huge seed-pods, like in shape -unto the weights of an extra large cuckoo-clock.' -Several varieties of the mango just now are in fine -bearing, and the wine-palm of the West African -coast was never more juicy and strawberry-like in -flavour. Ferns and palms are magnificent, but after -all, the Queenslander finds a native plant excite his -admiration most. 'No description can do justice -to the exquisite colour of the so-called blue water-lily -of this colony. It is <i>not</i> blue, nor white, nor -mauve, nor lilac, but has a blended dash of all -of them, and is lovelier than any. A Swiss or -French dyer who could reproduce it faithfully -would make his fortune. It is a colour suggestive -of summer afternoons, of lawns, of croquet, of -classic villas, swell society, and five o'clock teas -in the garden, with greyhounds, spaniels, pretty -girls, and rosy children grouped about miscellaneous -like.'</p> - -<p>Acclimatisation has succeeded too thoroughly -in one instance—the rabbit, as we have had occasion -to shew in a previous paper, having increased -and multiplied until the colonists have reason -to wish he had never been induced to settle -in the land. One wheat-grower, wroth at having -to sit up o' nights with his farm hands, dogs, -bullock-bells, and tin cans, in order to scare the -little pests back to their burrows, lest, like his -neighbours, he should have nothing left to reap, -declares either the rabbit or the farmer must go -down; there is no longer room for both. Sheep-farmers -are in a similar predicament; but their -trouble is of native growth; the kangaroo is their -<i>bête noire</i>, and they are busy arming against the -pouched depredators. Kangaroo battues are the -rage. At one held at Warroo, upwards of three -thousand five hundred of these animals were disposed -of in ten days; making eight thousand of -which the run had been cleared in the space of a -month—equivalent to saving pasturage for a like -number of sheep. Another sheep-owner, after -shooting down four thousand kangaroos on a small -portion of his run, finds it necessary to call in outside -aid, and lay in tons of cartridges for the use -of those who respond to the appeal. By reports -just to hand (Oct. 1877) we find that the process of -kangaroo extermination is still at work.</p> - -<p>There are other nuisances it would be well to -see to. A woodman at Maryborough lately died -of a scorpion sting; and we read of a man being -bitten by a black snake while working a short -distance from Brisbane. His mates scarified the -wound, bound up the arm, and administered a -large dose of brandy; put the patient into a cart, -and made for a dispensary with all possible speed. -Here the wound was scarified again; and a doctor -passing by, being called in, cauterised it, and -injected ammonia. In a few minutes the man's -spasmodic struggles ceased, and he was able to -walk to a cab. By the time he reached the -hospital all traces of the venom had disappeared, -and he seemed only to suffer from the effects of -the spirits he had imbibed. The ammonia treatment -of snake-bite is not efficacious with the lower -animals; at least in a series of experiments upon -dogs, not a single canine sufferer recovered. -Although Queensland is reputed to be a land -of rivers and streams, there are tracts where water -is scarce, and those who recklessly go on the -tramp, or 'wallaby,' as this kind of vagabondising -is called, sometimes experience the horrors of -thirst, and actually sink down and die in the -wilderness.</p> - -<p>To prove the truth of this, and to shew that -examples are not wanting of travellers who -have died of thirst, a correspondent of the -<i>Queenslander</i> tells how, following the tracks of -some horses that had strayed from their beat, he -came upon a pair of moleskin trousers hanging -upon a tree, as if put there for a signal of distress. -Looking about, he picked up a torn pocket, containing -an illegible cheque and a match-box; and -scattered about on the grass saw a blanket, shirt, -hat, and water-bag. Searching further, he found -the skull and bones of a man who had apparently -been dead some two or three weeks; some of the -flesh was still on the bones, and the brains were -almost intact. Bags of flour, tea, and sugar lay -near; a proof that the poor fellow had not died of -hunger, but of thirst, the nearest water being -twelve miles from the spot where he died his -lonely death.</p> - -<p>Thomas Stevenson, a lad of seventeen, started -one December morning from his brother's station, -some fifty miles from Louth, New South Wales, -for the post-office at that place, which he reached -safely, and left again at daybreak on the Saturday. -The following Wednesday his horse arrived home, -bearing his rider's coat, scarf, and spurs. His -brother started for the bush with some black -trackers, who found that the missing lad had been -wandering on the Debil-Debil Mountains, but finding -it impossible to get his horse down them, had -turned back to get round the base of the mountains, -but mistaking the road and overtaken by darkness, -had camped out and hobbled his horse. After a -three days' search the trackers discovered the body -of young Stevenson lying between two logs in a -lonely part of the bush. The weather had been -extremely hot, and it was known he had no water-bag -with him; so there was little doubt that he -died of thirst. After losing his way and losing -hope, he must have taken off his coat, scarf, and -spurs, fastened them to a saddle, and turned the -horse loose. Then placing the two logs on a track, -he had lain down between them with his head -resting on a cross-piece at one end, and so waited -Death's releasing hand.</p> - -<p>If advertising means business, business should -be brisk indeed at Darling Downs, since the editor -of the <i>Darling Downs Gazette</i> finds it necessary to -explain the absence of the customary 'leader' in this -wise: 'Owing to a press of advertis—— In fact -it is coming to this, that we shall have to throw up -the business if people come hustling their advertisements -in at the rate they are doing. The -general appreciation of the fact that the <i>Gazette</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_825" id="Page_825">{825}</a></span> -is bound to be read by everybody, is becoming -overwhelming. We plead guilty to no leader this -time; but what were we to do? Only just now a -bald-headed man came rushing in—— But stop! let -us first explain that we mean no offence to bald-headed -men, and they needn't get up in arms. Goodness -knows, we were bald-headed enough ourselves -once upon a time, and used to be up in arms frequently -about that period. Ask our nurse. However, -as we were about to say, a bald-headed man -came hustling in just as we had commenced our -leader, and had got as far as, "When the history -of mankind shall have been disinterred from the -triturated and inevaporable sediments of its consummated -cosmogony"—and while with our pen -suspended we were working up the continuation -in the same gay and sparkling style, that bald-headed -man violently brought us down from the -ethereal heights in which we were soaring, and -wanted to know whether we could spare space -for a column or so of advertisements. He fluttered -some dingy papers, each marked five pounds, under -our eyes, and we rather liked it. But we conquered -our feelings and remarked: "Caitiff! our -duty to our readers demands a leading article; -hang advertisements! Take your beak from out -our heart; take your form from off our door." -The wretch winked, and went to the book-keeper, -and inveigled him into finding space for that -advertisement. Since then, there have been processions -of bald and hairy men with insidious -manners and fluttering notes, palming off advertisements -on us. In short—or if the reader objects -to that phrase as inappropriate—at length, we -have no leading article, and if the reader could -only witness our tears!'</p> - -<p>With certain parliamentary proceedings fresh in -remembrance, we dare not cast stones at our -cousins for not eliminating the rowdy element -from their legislatures. That it should be predominant -is not surprising, since we are assured, -that in view of a coming dissolution, candidates -swarm on the ground like frogs in a marsh. -Every man who has figured in the insolvent list -for the last three years; every boot-black whose -stock of materials has given out; wild wood-carters -whose only horse and hope is dead; -country newspaper reporters down on their luck; -country-town bellmen whose vocation has been -supplanted; seedy men who cry penny papers -in the streets: in short, all Bohemia and its -dependencies have taken the field with a view to -winning senatorial honours and the three hundred -a year going with them. Prominent among these -candidates stand Tom M'Inerney, who bases -his claims upon the fact that he owns fifteen -drays and fourteen children, and is under the -impression that S. I. after a man's name denote -him to be a civil engineer; and Patrick Tyrrell, -who objects to 'circular' education, and who -proved himself a real Irishman when asked if he -would tax absentees, by replying: 'To be sure I -would, if they didn't live in the country.'</p> - -<p>However Australian legislators may indulge in -libellous personalities, it is pleasant to note that -such things are not received into favour by the -press; the <i>Queenslander</i> notifying to all concerned, -that 'any statement, comment, or criticism of a -personal character calculated to provoke ill-feeling -in the community from which it may be penned, -will not only be rigorously excluded, as hitherto, -but any correspondent who may think fit to forward -such matter for publication will be immediately -requested to discontinue his connection -with this journal.' To be perfect, this notification -only needs the N.B.—English papers please -copy.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /></div><div> -<h2><a name="TAKING_IT_COOLLY" id="TAKING_IT_COOLLY">TAKING IT COOLLY.</a></h2> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Some</span> of many instances of extraordinary coolness -in the midst of danger and otherwise that have -been recorded, are here offered to our readers, -together with some amusing sayings and doings. -When gallant Ponsonby lay grievously wounded -on the field of Waterloo, he forgot his own -desperate plight while watching an encounter -between a couple of French lancers and one of -his own men, cut off from his troop. As the -Frenchmen came down upon Murphy, he, using -his sword as if it were a shillelagh, knocked their -lances alternately aside again and again. Then -suddenly setting spurs to his horse, he galloped -off full speed, his eager foes following in hot -pursuit, but not quite neck and neck. Wheeling -round at exactly the right moment, the Irishman, -rushing at the foremost fellow, parried his lance, -and struck him down. The second, pressing on to -avenge his comrade, was cut through diagonally -by Murphy's sword, falling to the earth without -a cry or a groan; while the victor, scarcely glancing -at his handiwork, trotted off whistling <i>The -Grinder</i>.</p> - -<p>Ponsonby's brave cavalry-man knew how to -take things coolly, which, according to Colonel R. -P. Anderson, is the special virtue of the British -man-of-war, who, having the utmost reliance in -himself and his commanders, is neither easily -over-excited nor readily alarmed. In support of -his assertion, the colonel relates how two tars, -strolling up from the Dil-Kusha Park, where Lord -Clyde's army was stationed, towards the Residency -position at Lucknow, directed their steps by the -pickets of horse and foot. Suddenly, a twenty-four-pound -shot struck the road just in front of -them. 'I'm blessed, Bill,' said one of the tars, 'if -this here channel is properly buoyed!' and on the -happy-go-lucky pair went towards the Residency, -as calmly as if they had been on Portsmouth Hard. -During the same siege, a very young private of the -102d was on sentry, when an eight-inch shell, -fired from a gun a hundred yards off, burst close -to him, making a deal of noise and throwing up -an immense quantity of earth. Colonel Anderson -rushed to the spot. The youthful soldier was -standing quietly at his post, close to where the -shell had just exploded. Being asked what had -happened, he replied unconcernedly: 'I think a -shell has busted, sir.'</p> - -<p>Towards the close of the fight of Inkermann, -Lord Raglan, returning from taking leave of -General Strangways, met a sergeant carrying water -for the wounded. The sergeant drew himself -up to salute, when a round-shot came bounding -over the hill, and knocked his forage-cap out -of his hand. The man picked it up, dusted it on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_826" id="Page_826">{826}</a></span> -his knee, placed it carefully on his head, and made -the salute, not a muscle of his countenance moving -the while. 'A neat thing that, my man?' said -Lord Raglan. 'Yes, my lord,' returned the -sergeant, with another salute; 'but a miss is as -good as a mile.' The commander was probably -not surprised by such an exhibition of <i>sang-froid</i>, -being himself good that way. He was badly hurt -at Waterloo; and, says the Prince of Orange, who -was in the hospital, 'I was not conscious of the -presence of Lord Fitzroy Somerset until I heard -him call out in his ordinary tone: "Hollo! Don't -carry that arm away till I have taken off my -ring!" Neither wound nor operation had extorted -a groan from his lips.'</p> - -<p>The Indian prides himself upon taking good -or ill in the quietest of ways; and from a tale -told in Mr Marshall's <i>Canadian Dominion</i>, his -civilised half-brother would seem to be equally -unemotional. Thanks mainly to a certain Métis -or half-breed in the service of the Hudson Bay -Company, a Sioux warrior was found guilty of -stealing a horse, and condemned to pay the -animal's value by instalments, at one of the -Company's forts. On paying the last instalment, -he received his quittance from the man who had -brought him to justice, and left the office. A few -moments later the Sioux returned, advanced on -his noiseless moccasins within a pace of the -writing-table, and levelled his musket full at the -half-breed's head. Just as the trigger was pulled, -the Métis raised the hand with which he was -writing and touched lightly the muzzle of the -gun; the shot passed over his head, but his hair -was singed off in a broad mass. The smoke -clearing away, the Indian was amazed to see his -enemy still lived. The other looked him full in -the eyes for an instant, and quietly resumed his -writing. The Indian silently departed unpursued; -those who would have given chase being stopped -by the half-breed with: 'Go back to your dinner, -and leave the affair to me.'</p> - -<p>When evening came, a few whites, curious to -see how the matter would end, accompanied the -Métis to the Sioux encampment. At a certain -distance he bade them wait, and advanced alone to -the Indian tents. Before one of these sat crouched -the baffled savage, singing his own death-hymn to -the tom-tom. He complained that he must now -say good-bye to wife and child, to the sunlight, to -his gun and the chase. He told his friends in the -spirit-land to expect him that night, when he -would bring them all the news of their tribe. He -swung his body backwards and forwards as he -chanted his strange song, but never once looked up—not -even when his foe spurned him with his -foot. He only sang on, and awaited his fate. -Then the half-breed bent his head and spat down -on the crouching Sioux, and turned leisurely away—a -crueller revenge than if he had shot him dead.</p> - -<p>It is not given to every one to play the philosopher, -and accept fortune's buffets and favours with -equal placidity. Horatios are scarce. But there -are plenty of people capable of behaving like -Spartans where the trouble does not touch their -individuality. 'How can I get out of this?' asked -an Englishman, up to his armpits in a Scotch bog, -of a passer-by. 'I dinna think ye <i>can</i> get oot of -it,' was the response of the Highlander as he went -on his way.</p> - -<p>Mistress of herself was the spouse of the old -gentleman, who contrived to tumble off the ferryboat -into the Mississippi, and was encouraged to -struggle for dear life by his better-half shouting: -'There, Samuel; didn't I tell you so? Now then, -work your legs, flap your arms, hold your breath, -and repeat the Lord's Prayer—for its mighty -onsartin, Samuel, whether you land in Vicksburg -or eternity!'</p> - -<p>Thoroughly oblivious of court manners was the -red-cloaked old Kentish dame who found her way -into the tent occupied by Queen Charlotte, at a -Volunteer review held shortly after her coming to -England, and after staring at the royal lady with -her arms akimbo, observed: 'Well, she's not so -ugly as they told me she was!'—a compliment -the astonished queen gratefully accepted, saying: -'Well, my good woman, I am very glad of dat.' -Probably Her Majesty forgave her critic's rudeness -as the outcome of rustic ignorance and simplicity.</p> - -<p>There is no cooler man than your simple fellow. -While General Thomas was inspecting the fortifications -of Chattanooga with General Garfield, they -heard some one shout: 'Hello, mister! You! I -want to speak to you!' General Thomas, turning, -found he was the 'mister' so politely hailed by -an East Tennessean soldier.</p> - -<p>'Well, my man,' said he, 'what do you want -with me?'</p> - -<p>'I want to get a furlough, mister, that's what I -want,' was the reply.</p> - -<p>'Why do you want a furlough, my man?' -inquired the general.</p> - -<p>'Wall, I want to go home and see my wife.'</p> - -<p>'How long is it since you saw her?'</p> - -<p>'Ever since I enlisted; nigh on to three months.'</p> - -<p>'Three months!' exclaimed the commander. -'Why, my good fellow, I have not seen my wife -for three years!'</p> - -<p>The Tennessean looked incredulous, and drawled -out: 'Wall, you see, me and <i>my</i> wife ain't that -sort!'</p> - -<p>The Postmaster-general of the United States -once received an odd official communication; the -Raeborn postmaster, new to his duties, writing -to his superior officer: 'Seeing by the regulations -that I am required to send you a letter of advice, -I must plead in excuse that I have been postmaster -but a short time; but I will say, if your office -pays no better than mine, I advise you to give it -up.' To this day, that Postmaster-general has not -decided whether his subordinate was an ignoramus -or was quietly poking fun at him.</p> - -<p>Spite of the old axiom about self-praise, many -are of opinion that the world is apt to take a -man at his own valuation. If that be true, there -is a church dignitary in embryo somewhere in -the young deacon, whose examining bishop felt it -requisite to send for the clergyman recommending -him for ordination, in order to tell him to keep -that young man in check; adding by way of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_827" id="Page_827">{827}</a></span> -explanation: 'I had the greatest difficulty, sir, -to prevent him examining me!' This not to be -abashed candidate for clerical honours promises to -be as worthy of the cloth as the American minister -who treated his village congregation to one of Mr -Beecher's sermons, unaware that the popular -Brooklyn preacher made one of his hearers. -Accosting him after service, Mr Beecher said: -'That was a fair discourse; how long did it take -you to write it?'</p> - -<p>'Oh, I tossed it off one evening,' was the reply.</p> - -<p>'Indeed!' said Mr Beecher. 'Well, it took me -much longer than that to think out the framework -of that sermon.'</p> - -<p>'Are you Henry Ward Beecher?' asked the -sermon-stealer.</p> - -<p>'I am,' said that gentleman.</p> - -<p>'Well, then,' said the other, not in the least -disconcerted, 'all I have to say is, that I ain't -ashamed to preach one of your sermons anywhere.'</p> - -<p>We do not know if Colman invented the phrase, -'As cool as a cucumber;' but he makes the Irishman -in <i>The Heir-at-Law</i> say: 'These two must be -a rich man that won't lend, and a borrower; for -one is trotting about in great distress, and t' other -stands cool as a cucumber.' Of the two, the latter -was more likely to have been intending a raid -on another man's purse, for the men whose 'very -trade is borrowing' are usually, we might say -necessarily, the coolest of the cool; like Bubb -Dodington's impecunious acquaintance, who, rushing -across Bond Street, greeted Dodington with: -'I'm delighted to see you, for I am wonderfully -in want of a guinea.'</p> - -<p>Taking out his purse, Bubb shewed that it held -but half a guinea.</p> - -<p>'A thousand thanks!' cried his tormentor, -deftly seizing the coin; 'that will do very well -for the present;' and then changed the conversation. -But as he turned to take leave, he inquired: -'By-the-by, when will you pay me that half-guinea?'</p> - -<p>'Pay you? What do you mean?' exclaimed -Dodington.</p> - -<p>'Mean? Why, I intended to borrow a guinea -of you. I have only got half; but I'm not in a -hurry for t' other. Name your own time, only -pray keep it!' saying which, he disappeared round -the corner.</p> - -<p>'John Phœnix' the American humorist being -one night at a theatre, fancied he saw a friend -some three seats in front of him. Turning to his -next neighbour he said: 'Would you be kind -enough to touch that gentleman with your stick?' -'Certainly,' was the reply, and the thing was done; -but when the individual thus assaulted turned -round, Phœnix saw he was not the man he took -him for, and became at once absorbed in the play, -leaving his friend with the stick to settle matters -with the gentleman in front, which, as he had no -excuse handy, was not done without considerable -trouble. When the hubbub was over, the victim -said: 'Didn't you tell me to tap that man with my -stick?' 'Yes.' 'And what did you want?' 'Oh,' -said Phœnix, with imperturbable gravity, 'I -wanted to see whether you <i>would</i> tap him or not!'</p> - -<p>'Jack Holmes,' a man-about-town, living no one -knew how, was once under cross-examination by a -certain sergeant-at-law, who knew his man too -well. 'Now, sir,' said the learned gentleman, -'tell the jury how you live?'</p> - -<p>'Well,' said Holmes, 'a chop or a steak, and -on Sunday perhaps a little bit of fish; I am a -very plain-living man.'</p> - -<p>'You know what I mean, sir,' thundered the -questioner. 'What do you do for a living?'</p> - -<p>'The same as you, sergeant,' said the witness, -tapping his forehead suggestively; 'and when that -fails, I do'—going through the pantomime of -writing across his hand—'a little bit of stuff—the -same as you again.'</p> - -<p>'My lud, I shall not ask this obtuse witness -any more questions,' said the angry counsel.</p> - -<p>'Brother,' said Baron Martin, 'I think you had -better not.'</p> - -<p>Here is a hint for our old friend the clown in -the pantomime. At the burning of a provision -store, the crowd helped themselves freely. One -man grasped a huge cheese as his share of the -salvage; rising up with it he found himself face -to face with a policeman, and with admirable presence -of mind put the plunder into the officer's -arms, saying: 'You had better take care of that, -policeman, or some one will be walking off with -it.'</p> - -<p>Equally ready to relinquish his loot when there -was no help for it was a Chicago negro, caught by -a poultry fancier in the act of carrying off some of -his live stock, and challenged with: 'What are you -doing with my chickens?' 'I wuz gwine fer ter -fetch 'em back, boss,' explained he. 'Dere's a -nigger roun' here what's bin disputin along er me -'bout dem chickens. I said dey wuz Coachin -Chyniz; an he said dey wuz Alabarmar pullets; -an I wuz jes takin 'em roun' fer ter stablish my -nollidge. Dey don't lay no aigs, does dey, boss? -Ef dey does, I'm mighty shamed of hustlin 'em -roun'. Aigs is scase.'</p> - -<p>Impudently cool as the darkey was, he must -yield the palm for effrontery to the Erie Railway -guard, whose interview with Manager Fisk is thus -related in an American paper.</p> - -<p>'You are a conductor on the Erie, I believe?'</p> - -<p>'Yes, sir.'</p> - -<p>'How long have you been on the road?'</p> - -<p>'Fifteen years.'</p> - -<p>'Worth some property, I learn?'</p> - -<p>'Some.'</p> - -<p>'Have a very fine house in Oswego? Cost you -some thirty, forty, or fifty thousand dollars?'</p> - -<p>'Yes, sir.'</p> - -<p>'Some little money invested in bonds, I am -told?'</p> - -<p>'Yes, sir.'</p> - -<p>'Own a farm near where you reside?'</p> - -<p>'Yes, sir.'</p> - -<p>'Had nothing when you commenced as conductor -on our road?'</p> - -<p>'Nothing to speak of.'</p> - -<p>'Made the property since?'</p> - -<p>'Yes, sir.'</p> - -<p>'Been at work for no other parties?'</p> - -<p>'No; but I have been saving money, and -invested it from time to time to good advantage.'</p> - -<p>'Well, sir, what will you give to settle? Of -course you cannot pretend to say you have acquired -this property from what you have saved from your -salary? You will not deny that you have pocketed -a great deal of money belonging to the railway—at -least fifty or sixty thousand dollars? Now, sir, -what will you give to settle, and not be disgraced, -as you certainly will be if a trial is brought, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_828" id="Page_828">{828}</a></span> -you are compelled to give up the property you -profess to own, but which in reality belongs to -the Company?'</p> - -<p>'Well, Mr Manager, I had not thought of the -matter. For several years I have been running -my train to the best of my ability. Never looked -at the matter in this light before. Never thought -I was doing anything wrong. I have done nothing -more than other conductors; tried to earn my -salary and get it, and think I've succeeded. I don't -know that I owe the Company anything. If you -think I do, why, there's a little difference of -opinion, and I don't want any trouble over it. I -have a nice family, nice father and mother; -relatives all of good standing; they would feel -bad to have me arrested and charged with dishonesty. -It would kill my wife. She has every -confidence in me, and the idea that I would take a -penny that did not belong to me would break her -heart. I don't care anything for the matter -myself; but on account of my family and relatives, -if you won't say anything more about it, I'll give -you say—a dollar!'</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /></div><div> -<h2><a name="THE_MONTH" id="THE_MONTH">THE MONTH:</a><br /> -<br /> -SCIENCE AND ARTS.</h2> - - -<p><span class="smcap">Mr Charles Barry</span>, President of the Royal Institute -of British Architects, in his opening address, -mentioned that with a view to facilitate the studies -of young men, the library of the Institute is open -from ten in the morning till nine at night, to -members of the Architectural Association, to the -architectural classes of the Royal Academy, of -University College, and King's College. A fee of -five shillings a year and a proper recommendation -are the conditions on which this valuable privilege -may be obtained; and it is to be hoped that earnest-minded -students—the architects of the future—will -hasten to avail themselves of this generously offered -store of knowledge.</p> - -<p>The Council of the Institute have given notice -of lectures which are to be delivered at University -College, London, during the present session, comprising -Ancient Architecture as a Fine Art; on -Construction and Materials; on Roofing, Masonry, -Quarries, Arches, and Groining. At King's College -also there will be lectures on the Mechanics of -Construction; on Constructive Design and Practice, -besides classes for the study of Architectural Drawing, -Descriptive Geometry, and Surveying and -Levelling. Young men who wish to study architecture -and allied subjects have in the courses thus -provided for, a favourable opportunity. Among -the papers announced for reading at the meetings -of the Institute are: On the Architecture of Norway; -On the Prevention of Corrosion in Iron; -and Syria, the Cradle of Gothic Architecture; which -may be expected to present especial points of -interest.</p> - -<p>The Council of the Royal Agricultural Society -have published a statement of members' privileges -which is worth attention. On payment of a moderate -fee the advice of a competent veterinary inspector -can be had in cases of disease among the -live-stock; post-mortem examinations can be made, -and the animals may be sent to the Brown Institution, -Wandsworth Road, London, where the -Professor-Superintendent undertakes 'to carry out -such investigations relating to the nature, treatment, -and prevention of diseases of cattle, sheep, -and pigs, as may be deemed expedient by the -Council of the Society.' Reports on the cases -are drawn up quarterly, or specially as may be -required. Analyses of guano and other fertilisers, -of soils, of water, of vegetable products, may be -had; also reports on seeds, with determination of -the quantity of weeds mingled among them; on -vegetable parasites; on diseases of farm-crops. -And besides all this, any member whose lands are -infested by noxious intruders may have a 'determination -of the species of any insect, worm, or -other animal, which, in any stage of its life, injuriously -affects the farm-crops, with a report on its -habits, and suggestions as to its extermination.'</p> - -<p>Experiments on the fattening of animals by -Messrs Lawes and Gilbert help to settle the much-debated -question as to whether fat is produced -exclusively from nitrogenous food or not. Their -conclusion is, that excess of nitrogen contributes -to growth but not to fatness. 'There is, of course,' -they say, 'a point below which the proportion of -nitrogenous substance in the food should not be -reduced; but if this be much exceeded, the proportion -of the increase, and especially of the fat-increase, -to the nitrogenous substance consumed, -rapidly decreases; and it may be stated generally, -that taking our current fattening food-stuffs as -they are, it is their supply of digestible non-nitrogenous, -rather than of nitrogenous constituents -which guides the amount, both of the food consumed -and of the increase produced, by the -fattening animal.'</p> - -<p>Since the outbreak of discussion on spontaneous -generation and the germ theory, many readers -have become familiar with the term Bacteria, -by which certain minute organisms are described. -The question involved may be studied from -different points of view, as appears from a communication -addressed to the Royal Society by Dr -Downes and Mr Blunt, a chemist, on the Effect -of Light upon Bacteria and other Organisms. -Properly prepared solutions were inclosed in glass -tubes; some of the tubes were placed in sunlight, -others were covered with paper or some material -that excluded light. The dark tubes became turbid; -the light tubes remained clear. The experiments -modified in various ways were continued from -April to October; and the conclusions that the -experimentalists came to were that—Light is -inimical to the development of Bacteria and the -microscopic fungi associated with putrefaction and -decay, its action on the latter being apparently -less rapid than upon the former—That the -preservative quality of light is most powerful in -the direct solar ray, but can be demonstrated to -exist in ordinary diffused daylight—and That this -preservative quality appears to be associated with -the actinic rays of the spectrum. 'It appears to -us,' say the two gentlemen, 'that the organisms -which have been the subject of our research may -be regarded simply as isolated cells, or minute -protoplasmic masses specially fitted by their transparency -and tenuity for the demonstration of -physical influences. May we not expect that laws -similar to those which here manifest themselves -may be in operation throughout the vegetable, and -perhaps also the animal kingdom wherever light -has direct access to protoplasm? On the one -hand, we have chlorophyll (colouring substance of -leaves, &c.) owing its very existence to light, and -whose functions are deoxidising; on the other, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_829" id="Page_829">{829}</a></span> -white protoplasm or germinal matter oxidising in -its relations, and to which, in some of its forms -at least, the solar rays are not only non-essential, -but even devitalising and injurious.</p> - -<p>'This suggestion,' continued the gentlemen, 'we -advance provisionally and with diffidence; nor do -we wish to imply that the relations of light to -protoplasmic matter are by any means so simple -as might be inferred from the above broad statement.'</p> - -<p>A paper by Dr Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., read -before the same Society, contains, amid much that -is controversial about <i>Bacteria</i>, germs, organised particles, -development and so forth, a few passages -which all intelligent readers will be able to understand. -On the question of disease-germs, the -learned doctor remarks: 'In order that any particle -may be rightly termed a disease-germ, two things -must be proved concerning it: first, that it is a -living organism; secondly, that if it finds its way -into the body of a healthy human being or of an -animal, it will produce the disease of which it is -the germ. Now there is only one disease affecting -the higher animals in respect of which anything -of this kind has been proved, and that is splenic -fever of cattle. In other words, there is but one -case in which the existence of a disease-germ has -been established. Comparing such a germ with -the germinal particles we have been discussing, -we see that there is but little analogy between -them, for, first, the latter are not known to be -organised; secondly, they have no power of producing -disease, for it has been found by experiment -that ordinary Bacteria may be introduced -into the circulating blood of healthy animals in -considerable quantities without producing any -disturbance of health. So long as we ourselves -are healthy, we have no reason to apprehend any -danger from the morbific action of atmospheric -dust, except in so far as it can be shewn to have -derived infectiveness from some particular source -of miasma or contagium.'</p> - -<p>In a communication to the <i>American Journal</i>, -Professor Kirkwood discusses the question—Does -the motion of the inner satellite of Mars disprove -the nebular hypothesis? This satellite he remarks -is within three thousand four hundred miles of the -planet's surface, and completes three orbital revolutions -in less than a Martial day. How is this -remarkable fact to be reconciled with the cosmogony -of Laplace? The Professor then remarks that -there is some similarity between the movements of -the satellites and those of the rings of Saturn. -The rings are composed of clouds of exceedingly -minute planetoids, and while the outer ring revolves -in a period somewhat greater than that of Saturn -itself, 'the inner visible edge of the dusky ring -completes a revolution in about eight hours. -These rings,' in the words of Professor Tait, 'like -everything cosmical, must be gradually decaying, -because in the course of their motion round the -planet there must be continual impacts among the -separate portions of the mass; and of two which -impinge, one may be accelerated, but at the expense -of the other. The other falls out of the race, as it -were, and is gradually drawn in towards the planet. -The consequence is that, possibly not so much on -account of the improvement of telescopes of -late years, but perhaps simply in consequence of -this gradual closing in of the whole system, a -new ring of Saturn has been observed inside the -two old ones, called from its appearance the crape -ring, which was narrow when first observed, but is -gradually becoming broader. That crape ring is -formed of the laggards which have been thrown -out of the race, and are gradually falling in towards -Saturn's surface.' It is then suggested that, by a -process similar to that here described, the phenomena -of the Martial system may have been produced, -and the argument concludes thus: 'Unless -some such explanation as this can be given, the -short period of the inner satellite will doubtless -be regarded as a conclusive argument against the -nebular hypothesis.'</p> - -<p>In a paper read at a meeting of the Royal Astronomical -Society, Mr Brett argues against the hypothesis -that Mars is in a condition similar to that of -the earth. He grounds his conclusion on the fact -that in all his observations of Mars he has seen no -clouds in the atmosphere thereof. That atmosphere -is very dense, of great bulk, and is probably -of a temperature so high that any aqueous vapour -contained therein is prevented from condensation. -Mr Brett implies that the glowing red colour of the -middle of the disk is glowing red heat; and he -remarks, in terrestrial experience there is always -an intermediate phenomenon between vapour and -snow, namely opaque cloud; and the absence of -this condition seems fatal to the hypothesis that -the white polar patch, as hitherto supposed, consists -of snow. According to Mr Brett this patch is -not only not snow; constitutes no part of the solid -mass of the planet; but is nothing more than a -patch of cloud, 'the only real cloud existing in -Mars.'</p> - -<p>From particulars published in the <i>Quarterly -Journal</i> of the Geological Society, it appears that -metallic copper and copper ore have been discovered -along a tract of country in Nova Scotia, -that the specimens when analysed at Swansea -yielded satisfactory results, and that 'Nova Scotia -may soon appear on the list of copper-producing -countries, it being confidently expected that during -the approaching summer fresh localities will be -proved to contain copper-bearing veins.' And -shifting the scene, we learn from the same <i>Journal</i> -that in the South African Diamond Fields, two -claims in Kimberley Mine, comprising eighteen -hundred square feet, have yielded twenty-eight -thousand carats of diamond; that at Lyndenburg, -in the Transvaal country, most of the alluvial -gold is supplied by Pilgrim's Rest Creek, the gold -being coarse and nuggety, in well-rounded lumps, -some of which, ten pounds in weight, are worth -from seventy-six to eighty shillings an ounce; -and that near the Oliphant River cobalt ore is -found, of which a hundred tons have been sent -to England. The same locality yields beryls, and -is believed to be rich in other minerals.</p> - -<p>Compressed air on being released from pressure -can be cooled down to a very low temperature by -throwing into it a jet of cold water. Advantage -has been taken of this fact in contriving a new -refrigerator or freezing chamber; and we are -informed that at a trial which took place with a -view to commercial purposes, 'in half an hour -after commencing to work the machine, the thermometer -within the freezing chamber stood at -twenty degrees below zero; the interior of the -chamber was covered with hoar-frost half an inch -thick, bottles of water were frozen solid, and the -general temperature of the room in which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_830" id="Page_830">{830}</a></span> -freezing chamber stands was reduced to thirty -degrees Fahrenheit.' It is clear that by this -invention a very cheap way of producing ice and -maintaining coolness has become available; and -that it should have been adopted by a Company -for use on board ship to keep meat fresh during -the voyage from Canada is what might be expected. -Bearing in mind that in April of the present year -the United States sent to England more than eight -million pounds of meat, the importance of the new -cooling method will be appreciated. Moreover, it -may be applied to many other purposes which -require a low temperature.</p> - -<p>Another step has been taken towards diminishing -the risk of railway travelling. Experience -has shewn that the danger most to be dreaded is -collision; and that collision is brought about by -defective signals. The interlocking system of -signals is good, and the block-system is good; but -they have failed in critical moments. The manager -of the Railway Signal Works at Kilburn has invented -a method which combines the two systems, -and, as we are informed, has thereby 'dislodged -the last atom of human fallibility' from railway -signalling. Time will prove.</p> - -<p>The block-system has been adopted, with endeavours -to improve it, on some of the principal -lines in France; and the companies point to -statistics which shew that railway travelling is -safer in France than in Belgium or England; there -being not more than <i>one</i> death to forty-five millions -of travellers.</p> - -<p>Professor Marsh's address to the meeting of the -American Association for the Advancement of -Science cannot fail to interest all readers who -desire to learn something of the Introduction and -Succession of Vertebrate Life in America. It is a -subject very inviting, and very difficult to trace -the succession from fishes to amphibia, reptiles -and birds, and onwards to mammals; but cannot -be properly discussed without the aid of much -dry scientific detail. We shall content ourselves -therefore with a few points in the address which -admit of presentation in a popular form. 'During -the Triassic time,' says Professor Marsh, 'the -Dinosaurs attained in America an enormous development -both in variety of forms and in size. The -Triassic sandstone of the Connecticut valley has -long been famous for its fossil footprints, especially -the so-called bird-tracks, which are generally -supposed to have been made by birds. A careful -investigation, however, of nearly all the specimens -yet discovered has convinced me that most of -these three-toed tracks were certainly not made by -birds; but by quadrupeds which usually walked -upon their hind-feet alone, and only occasionally -put to the ground their smaller anterior extremities.'</p> - -<p>According to present knowledge, the earliest -appearance of birds in America was during the -Cretaceous period. Among them was one to which -the name <i>Hesperornis</i> has been given. It was -aquatic, nearly six feet in length, had jaws with -teeth set in grooves, rudimentary wings, and legs -similar to those of modern diving-birds. We -have it on the authority of Professor Marsh that -this strange creature 'was essentially a carnivorous -swimming ostrich.'</p> - -<p>Coming to the Miocene period, we are told of -the Brontotherium, an animal nearly as large as -the elephant, but with much shorter limbs. A -countryman looking at the skeleton of one of these -monsters in the museum at Newhaven, was heard -to say: 'Adam must have had a bad time of it -when he branded that critter there.' It was succeeded -by the equally huge <i>Chalicotherium</i>. And -a little later we have the statement that 'the -Marsupials are clearly the remnants of a very -ancient fauna which occupied the American continent -millions of years ago, and from which the -other mammals were doubtless all derived, although -the direct evidence of the transformation -is wanting.'</p> - -<p>It has long been supposed that the New World -was peopled by migrations from the Old World. -Professor Marsh holds a directly opposite opinion, -whereby an interesting question is presented for -discussion. The surveys and explorations carried -on of late years by the United States government -have brought to light such an amazing number of -fossils, indicative of more, that the museums in -America will soon be the largest and the richest -in specimens in the world. On the other hand, -we may point to Central Asia, and suggest that -when that vast country shall be thoroughly explored, -fossil relics may be discovered more diversified -and interesting even than those of America.</p> - -<p>A remarkable statement occurs in a Report by -one of the government naturalists on the Injurious -Insects of the West, namely that in the United -States the loss of agricultural products through the -ravages of insects amounts to 'probably more than -two hundred millions of dollars each year, and that -from one-quarter to one-half of this sum might be -saved by preventive measures.'</p> - -<p>Another item from beyond the Atlantic is the -gigantic cuttle-fish, which was found after a storm -at Catalina, on the coast of Newfoundland. The -measurements of this monster were: circumference -of body seven feet; length of tentacular arms -thirty feet; of the ventral arms eleven feet, and -eye-sockets eight inches diameter. This, the -largest specimen ever preserved, is now in the -New York Aquarium. With a grasp of sixty feet -when living, it must have realised the descriptions -in old writers of horrid sea-monsters that devoured -divers, and enveloped even ships with their terrible -arms. It is not the first that has been found on -the shores of Newfoundland.</p> - -<p>Readers who prefer the study of geography when -mixed with adventures will find instruction and -entertainment in Mr Alfred Simson's <i>Notes of -Travel Across South America from Guayaquil to the -Napo</i>, an affluent of the great river of Brazil, as -published in the last number of the Geographical -Society's <i>Journal</i>. Among descriptions of perilous -incidents, of laborious exertions, and of narrow -escapes, are accounts of wonderful scenery, of -natural products, and of some of the native tribes, -which make us aware that much yet remains to be -discovered in that mountainous interior. In one -place a party of the numerous Jívaros tribe was -met with, one of the most independent and warlike -in South America, who withstood alike the attacks -of Incas and Spaniards, and have still a habit of -killing white people. A Jesuit padre who had -resided among them three years, told Mr Simson -'that he found it impossible to make any progress -with them.'</p> - -<p>On another occasion Mr Simson explored the -almost unknown Putumayo, one of the largest of -the Amazonian tributaries, navigable to the foot of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_831" id="Page_831">{831}</a></span> -the Andes, eighteen hundred miles from the sea. -This voyage, aided by the Brazilian government, -with a view to steam-navigation, occupied fifty-seven -days, beset by hardships, and the plague of -the blood-thirsty Pium flies, all of which Mr Simson -appears to have overcome by indomitable -resolution.</p> - -<p>In reply to further inquiries made regarding vegetable -size, we are told that 'the best and purest, -if not the cheapest, is the <i>haï-thao</i>, which is sold by -Messrs Renault aîné et fils, 26 Rue du Roi de -Sicile, Paris. Its price (last year) varied from 5.50 -to 7 francs per kilogramme.' We are further told -that this 'gum' was applied to the sizing of cotton -cloths with good results, and that it might prove -equally useful for the sizing of other materials -such as paper. To one gallon of water, four ounces -of the size are added and <i>well</i> boiled, the result of -which is a jelly which gets very thick when cool. -Besides the <i>haï-thao</i>, there are other kinds of size -made from sea-weeds, such as the <i>gélase</i> of M. Martineau, -druggist, St Parchaise, Charente Inférieure—sold -at 3.50 francs per kilogramme; the <i>thao-français</i>, -sold by M. Steinbach, Petit Guerilly, near -Rouen, from 3.50 to 5 francs; and the <i>ly-cho</i> of -M. Fichet, 8 Rue de Chateau, Asnières, Seine. Of -the foregoing we believe the <i>haï-thao</i> size to be -the best.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /></div><div> -<h2><a name="THE_ROLL-CALL_OF_HOME" id="THE_ROLL-CALL_OF_HOME">THE ROLL-CALL OF HOME.</a></h2> - -<p class='ph3'>'FOR VALOUR.'</p> - - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">A soldier</span> came from distant lands, to seek his childhood's home:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A gallant boy he marched away, when first he longed to roam<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With colours flying o'er his head, with music's thrilling strain;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But now a saddened, dying man, he wandered home again.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">He left his love, the village belle, and cried, in careless glee:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">'When medals shine upon my breast, a hero's bride thou 'lt be.'<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To bring his mother laurels back, his youthful heart had yearned;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A simple cross, a life of toil, were all that he had earned.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Beside the old churchyard there sat, upon a rustic stile,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A pretty little village maid, who gave him smile for smile.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He asked her news of dear old friends—his dog among the rest—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And trem'lous then he slowly asked for those he loved the best.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">But when his father's, mother's, name she heard him softly say,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The merry face grew grave and sad; the bright smile passed away.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">She told, their son was lost or dead, their hearts' delight and pride;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">''Neath yonder yew-tree,' said the maid, 'they're sleeping, side by side.'<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">He asked her of his boyhood's love; a joyous answer came;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">'Thou knowest all my friends,' she cried; 'that <i>was</i> my mother's name.'<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The soldier's face was fraught with grief she could not understand;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yet, with a child's quick sympathy, she placed in his her hand.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">'Come home,' she said; but with a kiss, quoth he, 'That may not be;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I soon shall reach the only home now left, on earth, for me.'<br /></span> -<span class="i0">She was his last remaining friend; and thus, life's journey done,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He gave her all he had to give—the cross, too dearly won!<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Bethought the maid, he needs repose as he has come from far;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">So prayed that he would tell, some day, the story of the war.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">'We two will rest a little while, for I am tired,' she said;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">'Where daisies grow, beneath the tree, come now and rest thy head.'<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">She led him, gently, to the spot; and sleeping, calmly, there,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The mother found them, hand in hand. How different the pair!<br /></span> -<span class="i0"><i>He</i> was at peace; but in that rest where sorrow ne'er may come.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ah! may the soldier then have gained, in Heaven, a better home.<br /></span> -</div> - -<p class='right'> -<span class="smcap">Augusta A. L. Magra.</span> -</p></div></div> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p><i>Volume XIV. of the Fourth Series of <span class="smcap">Chambers's -Journal</span> is now completed, price Nine Shillings.</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><i>A Title-page and Index, price One Penny, have been -prepared, and may be ordered through any bookseller.</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><i>An elegant cloth case for binding the whole of the -numbers for 1877 is also ready.</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><i>Back numbers to complete sets may at all times be -had.</i></p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class='center'><i>Next Saturday, January 5, 1878, will be commenced -in this <span class="smcap">Journal</span>, a <span class="smcap">Novel</span>, entitled</i></p> - -<p class='center'> -HELENA, LADY HARROWGATE.<br /> -By <span class="smcap">John B. Harwood</span>,<br /> -Author of <i>Lady Flavia</i>, &c.<br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_832" id="Page_832">{832}</a></span></p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class='center'>END OF FOURTEENTH VOLUME.</p> - -<p class='center'> -Printed and Published by W. and R. Chambers, -47 Paternoster Row, London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh. -</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class='center'><i>All Rights Reserved.</i></p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular -Literature, Science, and Art, No. 731, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBER'S JOURNAL *** - -***** This file should be named 52100-h.htm or 52100-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/1/0/52100/ - -Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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